hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome. we begin in ukraine, where the country's newly announced humanitarian corridor, allowing ships to pass through the black sea, is being put to the test for the first time. a hong kong—flagged merchant ship, carrying more than 30 thousand tons of cargo and food, successfully set sail on wedneday. the ship was just one of an estimated 60 commercial vessels trapped in ukrainian ports since the start of the war. this new corridor is meant to help free those ships. ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky called the ship's movements a, quote, "important step", even as kyiv reported a russian air strike damaged a grain storage facility in reni. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse has the latest from kyiv.

there are also interesting developments at sea where since the collapse of a major agreement last month that allowed ukraine to export grain through an agreed route through the black see it then announces humanitarian corridor without any kind of acknowledgement from russia which has continued to target commercial vessels. yet we have a cargo ship leave the port of edessa this morning. it had been trapped there since before the invasion, and it continues to make its way south towards turkiye. there are some in the insurance and shipping industry that are rightfully nervous about this because russia enjoys quite a lot of dominance on the southern ukrainian coast. it uses its vessels to blockade ukrainian ports. and yet this vessel seems to have made its way through. more could follow but there is a big if here on whether russia decides to leave the vessels alone and it is a big if because it continues to strike ukrainian ports with drone strikes. as the war in ukraine

continues, a bbc investigation highlights ukrainian prisoners of war who say they were subjected to torture, including frequent beatings and electric shocks, while being held in russia. for weeks, our correspondent hugo bachega tracked down some of the ukrainians who had been detained, to hear their stories. translation: sheer hell. the scariest part was when they called you up for interrogation. translation: how can you describe _ a place where you are stripped of everything human? these ukrainians were captured by the enemy... translation: they can do anything they want with you physically. ..and taken to this russian prison in taganrog, a place they now associate with torture. in may last year, the city of mariupol was under siege. artem, a sniper with the azov regiment, wanted to keep on fighting. but ukraine ordered the troops in the azovstal

steelworks to surrender. translation: when i heard about captivity for the first . time, i had the worst images in my head about what could happen. artem was held in taganrog for seven months. he says he was frequently beaten and given electric shocks. he often witnessed other captives suffering too. after the beatings one day, i was brought to a room. i saw a young man holding his hands up, his fingers were bleeding. "did they insert needles under yourfingernails," i asked. he said yes. for weeks, i tracked down ukrainians who had been taken to taganrog and came back. people like irena, who is now a conscript officer in the military. she was a combat medic

when she surrendered. she says not even the women were spared the brutality of the guards. translation: they dragged us by our hair. _ they beat us in the kidneys, in the ribs, with hammers and batons. how do you describe taganrog? only devils live and work there. this is denis, a military surgeon. he tells me people were beaten as soon as they arrived. in rooms, hallways and even in the shower. he was left with three broken ribs and could barely breathe. translation: they threw me | on the floor, ordered me to not lift my head up and gave me electric shocks until they discharged the entire taser battery on me. you are convulsing.

if lift your head off the floor, they start beating you, and the circle never ends. up to 10,000 ukrainian prisoners of war are believed to remain in russian captivity, including hundreds of the azovstal defenders. many are being held in prisons across the country — a violation of the rules of war. here, campaigns like this one are fighting for their freedom and for russia to protect their rights. ukraine says nine in every ten prisoners who return allege they have been tortured. the biggest challenge for me now is how to protect our people on the russian side. i don't know how and nobody knows how we can do it. the russian defence ministry has not replied to our request for comment. but prisoner swaps like this one... ..give hope to families

still waiting to see their loved ones again. how do you recover from all this? translation: i am currently undergoing treatment - and my priority is to take care of my health so i can put on my uniform, pick up my weapons and defend my country. the battles in this war continue, not only on the front lines but also in the lives of ukrainians trying to overcome so much cruelty. hugo bachega, bbc news, kyiv. earlier i spoke with john allen, a retired us marine corps four—star general and former commander of the nato international security assistance force, about that bbc reporting and ukraine's counter—offensive. thank you forjoining us. the bbc is reporting today that doesn't format ukrainian captives say they subjected to torture while in custody at

detention facilities in south—western russia, apparent violations of international humanitarian law.- violations of international humanitarian law. how should foreian humanitarian law. how should foreign governments - humanitarian law. how should | foreign governments respond? first, no—one is surprised at this. virtually every dimension of the russian invasion of ukraine has been accompanied by some violation of international military law. attacks on infrastructure, attacks on civilians and here again we see the systematic, frankly, the systematic torture of ukrainian prisoners. in the way to do this on the way to respond at an international level is to condemn it universally and unanimously and also, as necessary, continue to levy sanctions against individuals within the russian military and against the russian government. but this has got to be condemned in the loudest voices that we can bring to bear. the systematic torture of prisoners

of war, the systematic torture of war, the systematic torture of individuals who are out of combat cannot be tolerated and we must protest with the loudest possible voice. russian forces have _ loudest possible voice. russian forces have retreated _ loudest possible voice. russian forces have retreated from - loudest possible voice. russian forces have retreated from the| forces have retreated from the donetsk region and it is the first village we captured the track recaptured by ukraine since last month. ukraine fights for so much land whether it is in that region or mariel pole. a they concentrates that by concentrating their forces wisely to maximise their chances of make progress? i wisely to maximise their chances of make progress? i am reluctant to _ chances of make progress? i am reluctant to offer _ chances of make progress? i am reluctant to offer a _ chances of make progress? i am reluctant to offer a specific - reluctant to offer a specific opinion as to the specifics of their operation. ukrainians in this counteroffensive are up against a very difficult and complex series of obstacles by the russians. thousands of square kilometres of mind territory, complex obstacles, wap wire, dragon's teeth, and

what they are looking for as they disperse their forces on various axes in their attacks against the russians, they are looking for a breakthrough and i leave that to the ukrainian cedar leadership to determine how to dispose of their forces to seek and exploit the breakthrough points. but i think what we can see is that the broad and general strategic direction of the ukrainian counteroffensive is pointed towards the south—east and, very likely, intended to try and get to the sea of as of eventually and turned to the south—west and try to cut off the land bridge into crimea. that seems to be the strategic direction that they are pursuing but we will have to see as time unfolds. fin pursuing but we will have to see as time unfolds. on that oint see as time unfolds. on that point about _ see as time unfolds. on that point about strategic - see as time unfolds. on that. point about strategic direction and firepower do you think ukraine is receiving enough support from the us governments and other governments?

ukrainians would say that there is no end to what they need and in truth, of course, the united states and other countries have given an enormous amount, tens of billions of support to the ukrainians. it of billions of support to the ukrainians.— ukrainians. it is not 'ust a matter «fl ukrainians. it is not 'ust a matter of the i ukrainians. it is notjust a matter of the quantity - ukrainians. it is notjust a matter of the quantity of| matter of the quantity of support that ukrainians are looking for but it is also the kind of support. and as we have seen, other countries, the uk in particular and i really applaud the effort of the uk here, has given the ukrainians long—range capability in the french have now given a long—range missile for precision strikes and precision engagement and we hear the united states is very close to making a decision on our version of a long—range artillery rocket. that gives ukrainians the capacity, and we want be this case, that there is no single square centimetre

of ukrainian territory either in the ukraine itself or on the crimean peninsula that is safe for russians to occupy. we want to make sure that russian let areas, the command posts and logistics depots, the troop concentrations, command and control links in the movement of logistics to the front, that all of that is at risk at any given time. and giving the ukrainians the kind of weapons to threaten all those military capabilities of the russians makes it far more difficult for the russians to wage the kind of activity and operations that they would like to in ukrainian territory use crimea as a safe haven and a jumping off point forfurther military for further military operations. forfurther military operations. i for further military operations. i would giving them the right things? we have given them plenty at this point and there are still more to give and it is notjust a matter of

quantity it is a matter of quality and capability as well as we consider every request. if i could ask you about another topic, about afghanistan, the international forces there yesterday but the second anniversary of president biden�*s withdrawal of us troops from their we saw the taliban and cracking down on freedom particularly on women. have all the gains made there been lost now? ., u, the gains made there been lost now? ., _, ., ~ ., the gains made there been lost now? ., .«r ., now? you could make that case and i talk _ now? you could make that case and i talk to _ now? you could make that case and i talk to the _ now? you could make that case and i talk to the families - now? you could make that case and i talk to the families of - and i talk to the families of members of the us military who perished in that war and the li tried to make to them is i.i tried to make to them is that for the 20 years that the united states and her allies were present on the ground in afghanistan the people of afghanistan the people of afghanistan and in particular the women of afghanistan had a future. they had potential to be a key part of afghanistan and tojoin the be a key part of afghanistan and to join the world community. when we departed in 21 and the taliban re—entered

presidential palace in kabul it was an enormous setback for the afghan people and the taliban have systematically stripped away the rights of women in african society. there are young afghan women born after the invasion after our allies were attacked on september 11 20 south —— were attacked on september 11 20 south -- 2001, were attacked on september 11 20 south —— 2001, young women born in the aftermath of that who have no but freedom and opportunity and education and the potential that they would be key players in afghan society and international society and international society stop that has been a huge setback, seeing those afghan gains systematically stripped away by the taliban. we will leave it there for today. thank you forjoining us. a pleasure to be with you today, it always is. earlier on wednesday

it was confirmed that us presidentjoe biden and the first lady will travel to hawaii on monday to meet with the survivors and emergency workers in maui. the white house says biden is expected to visit wildfire damage and discuss next steps in the recovery operations with officials. he officials have now reopened the road to the worst—hit part of the island, giving most survivors their first opportunity to assess damage and retrieve their belongings. however, people are still barred from entering the town of lahaina, which was destroyed in the blaze. meanwhile, many are still searching for their loved ones as the death toll continues to rise. we arejust a we are just a little bit heartbroken because we do have to report that more of our loved ones have been confirmed lost and deceased. 110 individuals have been confirmed deceased. we will get some details about this from our distinguished leaders and police and fire. 38% of the

territory has been covered. meanwhile, wildfires in canada's remote northwest territories are inching closer to the region's capital city, yellowknife. the whole of the area is under a state of emergency, as fires continue to burn out of control. communities in the path of the fire are being evacuated, and hundreds of people have been airlifted to safety by the military. yellowknife is now blanketed in smoke. its mayor says that, if a fullscale evacuation is needed, the population of 20,000 may need to be evacuated by air, as the one highway into the city could be rendered impassable by the flames. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other news now. hundreds of extra police have been deployed in pakistan's punjab province after a crowd of muslims burnt down several churches and ransacked dozens of christian homes.

the violence was sparked by accusations that two christian men desecrated the quran. germany's government has put forward draft legislation to legalise cannabis for recreational use. if approved it would allow adults to possess up to 25 grams of the drug and grow their own plants. that would make it one of the most liberal cannabis laws in europe. the bill still needs approvalfrom parliament. the us state department is sending its new ambassador to niger to help diplomatic efforts there, following a recent coup. kathleen fitzgibbon is a career diplomat with extensive experience in africa. the move is seen as a sign of washington's continued engagement with the unfolding crisis. fitzgibbon is expected to arrive later this week. you're live with bbc news.

the family of travis king, the us soldier confirmed to be in north korea, has told bbc news that they have not heard from him. in an earlier statement north korea said the american solider wanted to seek refuge in its territory because of the poor treatment and racism he said he had experienced in the us army. a us defence department spokesperson said they weren't able to verify king's comments, but his family's spokesperson said his uncle had received a text in which the soldier had indicated he was experiencing racism. earlier, my colleague carl nasman spoke with private travis king's family spokesmanjonathan franks about the 23—year—old's detainment. jonathan, thank you for being here. just wanted to start off with that statement that was released by north korea and it is this, at least in part, as is this, at least in part, as is travis king confessed he had decided to come over to the

dprk, as north korea is called, as he harboured ill will or ill feeling against inhumane ill—treatment within the us army. he also expressed his willingness to be in the dprk and it was about the unequal american society. us officials cannot verify those claims. so we do need to be a bit sceptical. so i want to see what you make of that statement.— what you make of that statement. h, ., what you make of that statement. ., statement. good evening, thanks for havin: statement. good evening, thanks for having me- — i don't know exactly what to make of that statement. parts of it didn't make a lot of sense. i would hesitate, i would caution folks against taking this at face value. north koreans have a long history of trying to exploit racial issues in the united states and we, not having heard from travis, we don't know. have you heard from private travis king? do you have any sense of his condition and how

concerned are you about his safety? we have not heard from him and no reports on his condition. something about that statement suggested that perhaps, to me at least, he's been not treated terribly but we don't know and yes, his mother is terribly concerned and she wants her son back. can you give us any more insight into the way private king might have felt that he was treated when he was a member of the us military because we did hear some hints of that obviously from the north koreans. we also heard something similar from his family earlier. so, travis had sent a text to an uncle indicated he was experiencing racism. he did not elaborate so we don't know from whom, what kind of racism, there is a lot that we don't know. so i would not necessarily

see our statement as confirming the north koreans in any way. private king of course, he wasn't a bit of trouble with south korean when he was stationed there, he'd been an south korean prison. he was beiing sent home to the united states when he decided to cross the border. do you have any sense how much those factors could have played into his decision to cross that border into north korea? we don't, and i hesitate to just guess outright but i will tell you that he had done his time in south korea. he was cleared by the south korean courts, he was just going home to texas to discharge from the military. how aware do you think private king might have been of the dangers of crossing the border? he was stationed in south korea but anyone who is an american military member could easily be jailed or put on trial if they were to cross this very heavily militarised border between the two countries. i don't know what he knew what he thought at the time because i never actually got to speak to him but certainly i would imagine that

all us troops operating in the republic of korea, south korea, are briefed on the dangers of their neighbour to the north. we know that presidentjoe biden will be hosting the leaders of south korea and japan coming up on friday at camp david. what do you hope they might discuss when it comes to travis? i don't know that i have an expectation that they will discuss travis. they have a lot on their agenda. certainly anything the us government can do to facilitate him coming home is much appreciated and as the army and dod said last night, they remain focused on that goal, bringing him home. of course, this is already been quite an ordeal for travis and his family. how is his family coping? they are overwhelmed. it is hard to become sort of involuntarily famous, right? when tv people are showing up your house on the phone

number stops ringing. it's hard and that's on top of the emotional burden of being worried so i think they are coping with it heroically. but it's difficult. jonathan franks, the spokesman for the family of travis king. we're learning more about other americans detained as well — two in russia. our partners at cbs news have learned that us secretary of state antony blinken spoke by phone with paul whelan today. whelan, who has been detained for more than four years, is being held in a russian prison camp. this is the second time they have spoken. this follows confirmation on monday that us ambassador to russia lynne tracy met evan gershkovich, another american being wrongfully detained there as well. a us federal appeals court ruling will allow the abortion pill, mifepristone, to stay on shelves, but restrict access to the medication.

the order by the three judge panel got rid of a lower court's decision that would have completely taken the abortion drug off the market, but upheld parts of the ruling that ban telemedicine prescriptions and shipments of the pill by mail. the ruling will not take effect until the us supreme court reviews it. a pair of 80—year—old pen pals who have been writing to each other since 1955 have finally fulfilled their lifelong wish to meet in person. bbc reporter samantha nanda has the story. laughter. i didn't know we were going to be on tv. so, welcome. finally. oh, my god- — be on tv. so, welcome. finally. oh, my god. after _ be on tv. so, welcome. finally. oh, my god. after 68 _ be on tv. so, welcome. finally. oh, my god. after 68 years - be on tv. so, welcome. finally. oh, my god. after 68 years and j oh, my god. after 68 years and nearly 1000 _ oh, my god. after 68 years and nearly 1000 letters, _ oh, my god. after 68 years and nearly 1000 letters, this - oh, my god. after 68 years and nearly 1000 letters, this is - nearly 1000 letters, this is the moment penpals patsy

gregory and carol—ann krause finally got to meet. gregory and carol-ann krause finally got to meet.— finally got to meet. finally. finall . finally got to meet. finally. finally- 68 _ finally got to meet. finally. finally. 68 years. _ finally got to meet. finally. finally. 68 years. patsy - finally. 68 years. patsy travelled _ finally. 68 years. patsy travelled to _ finally. 68 years. patsy travelled to conway, i finally. 68 years. patsy i travelled to conway, south carolina, thanks to a special 80th birthday present from her children. ,, , , , children. she is 'ust as they imagined her. _ children. she isjust as they imagined her. a _ children. she isjust as they imagined her. a recognised j children. she isjust as they - imagined her. a recognised her immediately. imagined her. a recognised her immediately-— imagined her. a recognised her immediately.- it - imagined her. a recognised her immediately.- it was - imagined her. a recognised her immediately. why? it wasjust immediately. why? it was 'ust natural immediately. why? it was 'ust naturat and i immediately. why? it was 'ust natural and normal. �* immediately. why? it was 'ust natural and normal. they h immediately. why? it was just. natural and normal. they began their lont natural and normal. they began their long distance _ natural and normal. they began their long distance friendship i their long distance friendship in 1955, aged 12, when patsy was in the girl guides and carol—ann a girl scout, working towards their penpal badges. nearly 70 years and hundreds of letters later, they have shared i've's milestones including getting married, having children, grandchildren, and even great—grandchildren. heart even great-grandchildren. new ad five, after— even great—grandchildren. iia ad five, after decades of letters... ad five, after decades of letters- - -_ ad five, after decades of letters... , ., , ., letters... the story even made

the letters. .. the story even made the local— letters... the story even made the local news _ letters... the story even made the local news and _ letters... the story even madej the local news and carol-ann's the local news and carol—ann's home town. the recent new milestone. patsy�*s daughter steph travelled to carolina with her. it steph travelled to carolina with her-— steph travelled to carolina with her. . , , ., , with her. it was 'ust really, reall with her. it wasjust really, really emotional. - with her. it wasjust really, really emotional. it - with her. it wasjust really, really emotional. it was . with her. it wasjust really, i really emotional. it was quite emotional to watch them hugging each otherfor the emotional to watch them hugging each other for the first time and greeting each other. and theyjust hit it off instantly. we've just got... saman neighbour reporting. thanks for watching. i'm caitriona perry. do stay with us here on bbc news. hello. we've seen a change in the weather over the last couple of days, a change to something drier, brighter and warmer. and we're going to stick with warm and indeed quite humid conditions over the next couple of days. but on friday, it will turn windy, and some heavy thundery rain will arrive. thursday, though, is going to be quite a quiet day of weather. there'll be some areas of low cloud and mist first thing, tending to lift and clear, and then actually some lengthy spells of sunshine with just the small chance of catching a shower. a bit more of a breeze, though, and with that breeze coming from the east, where you're exposed to it along north sea coasts, temperatures may only

get to between 17—20 celsius, but with some shelter from the breeze, parts of western scotland, the north coast of northern ireland up to 22—23 celsius, maybe 26 celsius for the west coast of wales and 27 celsius for parts of central southern england. now as we head through thursday night, we will see again some areas of low cloud developing. the winds will start to pick up across western parts, and we will see a few showers and thunderstorms just starting to break out. temperatures 12—16 celsius. as we get into friday, it is going to turn really quite windy around western coasts as this frontal system starts to squeeze its way in. the white line squashing together, that shows that we will have some quite strong winds. in fact, gusts potentially of 50 to possibly 60mph in exposed parts of northwest wales. 0ne band of heavy thundery rain pushing north eastwards, then a dryer gap, and then some more general heavy rain getting into the southwest later in the day. depending on how quickly the rain arrives, it could again be very warm indeed, and it will certainly be very humid.

now, friday night looks really wet as this frontal system drives its way northwards and eastwards, some heavy and thundery bursts of rain. close to the centre of this area of low pressure on saturday, we will also see some showers, particularly across northern ireland, western scotland, maybe some for western fringes of england and wales. further south and east, not as many showers. in fact, it should be largely dry, and, again, quite warm. temperatures up to around 25 celsius in the southeast corner, but 21 celsius for glasgow, 22 celsius in belfast. still mostly dry and fairly warm on sunday, just a few showers around. and then into the start of next week, towards the south of the uk, temperatures could climb a little further.

us retail giant target becomes the latest casualty in america's culture wars. plus, have you heard about clean air zones? well, they are opening up all over england, but opposition about them remain divided. hello, and welcome to asia business report, i'm monica miller.

we begin with the quarterly earnings of us retail giant target which has become the latest corporate victim of america's culture wars. the company saw sales fall in—store and online for the first time in years after a backlash over its pride month offering. those reactions were so negative that target felt it had to remove items from some of its stores over concerns about staff safety. 0ur north america business correspondent michelle fleury has more from new york. between april and june, sales at target fell 5% compared to year ago. e—commerce sales fell 10.5%. the boss of the so—called big box retailer said it was hard to tell how much it was because customers were feeling pressure from higher prices and how much had to do with the boycott and backlash it faced over its pride month offerings that led to items being pulled from the shop floor to protect the safety of its staff. despite the sales decline, the retailer reported higher profit margins than analysts had expected as it offered fewer discounts.