hello. i'm caitriona perry. you are 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 30,000 tonnes of cargo and food, successfully set sail on wednesday. 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 "important step", even as kyiv reported a russian air strike damaged a grain storage facility in reni. 0ur 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 sea, it then announces a 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 odessa this morning. it had been trapped there since before the invasion, and it continues to make its way south towards turkey. 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. 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. generaljohn allen, thank you forjoining us. the bbc is reporting today that a dozen former ukrainian captives say they were subjected to torture while in custody at detention facilities in south—western russia, apparent violations of international 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, in the systematic, frankly, the systematic torture of ukrainian prisoners. and the way to do this, the way to respond at an international level is to condemn it universally and unanimously and also, as necessary, to continue

to levy sanctions against individuals within the russian military and, of course, against the russian government. but this has got to be condemned in the loudest voices that we can bring to bear on this issue. the systematic torture of prisoners of war, the systematic torture of individuals who are out of combat, if you will, cannot be tolerated and we must condemn it with the loudest possible voice. looking at the way things are at the moment, russian forces have retreated from the donetsk region, and it is the first village recaptured by ukraine since last month. ukraine is fighting for so much land whether it is in that region or mariupol. are they concentrating their forces wisely to maximise their chances of making progress? well, i am reluctant to offer a specific opinion, specifically, as to the wisdom of their operation. what is important is ukrainians in this counteroffensive are up

against a very difficult and complex series of obstacles by the russians. thousands of square kilometres of mined territory, complex obstacles, tank ditches, 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 point, and i leave that to the ukrainian leadership to determine how to dispose of their forces to seek and, ultimately, to 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 azov eventually and to turn 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. on that point about strategic direction and firepower, do you think ukraine is receiving enough support from the us governments and other governments? well, the ukrainians would say that there is no end to the support that 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. but it is notjust a 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 uk's effort, here, has given the ukrainians long—range capability with storm shadow missile and 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 it 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 rear areas, their command posts and logistics depots, their 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 kinds 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 wage the kind of operations

that they would like to in ukrainian territory or to use crimea as a safe haven, and a jumping off—point for further military operations. so are we 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. with that sustained pressure is president putin going to take a gamble and gamble on whether there is going to be a change of power in global office. no—one knows what is going on in his head except him. that has clearly been a disaster, this war, including the internal stability of russia has gone in the wrong direction. the russian military

was beaten to a standstill initially with this campaign, it is not winning on the battlefield tactically or operationally. the nato partners and more broadly the democracies of the world still remain very strong minded and their support of ukraine. all of the calculations vladimir putin undertook to win this war quickly and present the west with a fainter company and the elimination of ukraine all of that has been a massive strategic failure, and the run—up 0prah goshen towards russia means he does not have the kind of strategic controls he wants. maybe he wishes an outcome in the american election would favour russia, i do not think it would make any difference.

yesterday was 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? you could make that case. when i talk to the families of members of the us military who perished in that war, and the one point i try 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 and in particular the women of afghanistan had a future. they had potential to be a key part of afghanistan and to join the world community. when we departed in �*21 and the taliban re—entered the 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 afghan society. there are young afghan women born after the invasion

after the us and our allies were attacked on september 11 2001, young women born in the aftermath of that who have known nothing but freedom and opportunity and education and the potential that they would be key players in afghan society and international society. that has been a huge setback, seeing those afghan gains systematically stripped away by the taliban. the question becomes how will the international community deal with the taliban going forward. it is a corrupt regime in a narco terrorist organisation and thrives, in particular on its own ideology. there is no such thing as a taliban 2.0 ora there is no such thing as a taliban 2.0 or a revised taliban, there is only a taliban. 0ne taliban, there is only a taliban. one of the systematic and one of the principles ideological approaches of the

taliban is to ensure that women remain out of sight, they remain out of sight, they remain out of mind and are not a part of the society that the taliban ruling. i think of all the setbacks we have seen in the setbacks we have seen in the aftermath of the american and allied withdrawal from afghanistan in 2021, it is the fate of women that has been the most galling and the most disappointing for folks like us who served on the ground there and more broadly, the international community. and women around the world who had hoped deeply afghan women would join the community. we hoped deeply afghan women would join the community.— join the community. we will seak join the community. we will speak more _ join the community. we will speak more about _ join the community. we will speak more about this - join the community. we willl speak more about this again. we will leave it there for today. thank you forjoining us. a pleasure to be with you today, it always is. to hawaii, where the state's governor has confirmed that the death—toll from last week's maui wildfires has risen again. it comes as only two people have been named as victims of the fires. both are in their 70s. three others were identified but their names are being

withheld until their families are notified. here's a bit of what the governor had to say. 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. earlier on wednesday, it was confirmed that us presidentjoe biden and the first lady will travel to hawaii on monday to meet the survivors and emergency workers in maui. the white house says biden is expected to visit the areas of wildfire damage and discuss the next steps in the recovery operations with authorities. 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. 0ur correspondentjohn sudworth has been on maui since last week, and has more. there's been some criticism, of course, over the speed of the national government response to this disaster. so it will be welcome news here on maui that the president and the first lady are coming here. i'm in the community of kula, we are some distance away from the devastated town of lahaina, but nonetheless, you can see from these destroyed homes and businesses the power of the weather event that the fire crews were tackling that night. the same smouldering wildfire fanned by the offshore hurricane, bringing destruction to this area as well. the real onerous task, of course, as well as the emotionally

challenging work is going on down in the town, as the forensic experts continue to comb through the wreckage there in the bid to discover the remains of more victims and to identify them. it is this work in the immediate recovery work as well as what's happening down there that the president and the first lady will be able to see for themselves. in another community effort, the town of lahaina is working to save its iconic banyan trees, one of which stood over 60 feet tall and is over 150 years old. the fires burned the famous trees but they're still standing. firefighters are working to save the iconic landmarks despite fears that the damage might be irreversible. residents of a city in canada's far north are being told to evacuate in the face of raging wildfires. yellowknife, the capital of canada's northwest territories, is now blanketed in smoke. the population of 20,000 has been told to leave town by the end of the day on friday.

the whole of the area is under a state of emergency, as fires continue to burn out of control. over the past few days, more and more communities in the path of the fire have been evacuated, and hundreds of people have been airlifted to safety by the military. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. 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. blasphemy is punishable by death in pakistan. however, no—one has ever been executed for it 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 defense 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, private king's family spokesman spoke to the bbc about the 23—year—old's detainment. jonathan, thank you for being here. i just want to start off with that statement that was released by north korea and it says 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 maltreatment and racial discrimination within the us army. he also expressed his willingness to seek refuge in the dprk or a third country, saying that he was disillusioned at the unequal american society. of course, us officials cannot verify those claims. this is north korea, so we do need to be a bit sceptical. so i want to see what you make of that 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 that 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 was in a bit of trouble with south korean when he was stationed there, he'd been in a south korean prison. he was being 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. 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. 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. turning now to new york city, which is banning the popular video sharing app tiktok on government—owned devices. 0fficials cite security concerns. new york state has already enacted a similar ban. the move follows ones in cities and states across the us, where officials worry about the influence of the chinese government on the app and its more than 150 million american users. chinese tech giant byte—dance, which owns the app, says it takes the privacy and security

of tiktok users seriously. the british museum in london has sacked a member of staff after treasures were reported "missing, stolen or damaged". items including gold, jewellery and gems of semi—precious stones. metropolitan police are now investigating what happened. 0ur correspondent robin brandt has more from outside the famous institution. police are saying there have been no arrests but somewhere inside this building which has been in the heart of london for 270 years, it is a globally renowned institution but somewhere inside there is, essentially, a crime scene tonight. we heard from the british museum about two hours ago, details of something they learned of earlier in the year. they have been investigating internally since. they've gone public now with the facts that there are items missing, stolen or damaged. a member of their staff

has been dismissed. let's look at what we know about what is missing. these are small pieces that were kept inside a store room inside the building. they were not shown to members of the public including, apparently, gold jewellery, gems of semiprecious stones and glass. they date back to the 15th century bc and some of the items come all the way up to the 19th century ad. which means some of these missing or stolen items could be as old as 3500 years. we heard from george osborne, formerly a prominent conservative politician in this country, he's now the chair of the british museum and he said their priorities are to find the missing goods and make sure it does not happen again. he described this is a sad day for all those who love the british museum. but what is clear tonight is not much is clear. they do not have a full inventory of what has gone missing, they do not know where this stuff is,

they don't know how long it has been going on for and they cannot put a value on the items. some, as i said, potentially thousands of years old. that's all from us here in washington. stay with us here on bbc news. we leave you now with these live pictures of london as we hand off to our colleagues there. 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 drier 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.

voiceover: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. after four decades in power in cambodia hun sen is handing over to his eldest son, dad will remain leader of the ruling people's

party so significant change seems unlikely for either family or country. given years of economic growth and a key strategic position in southeast asia, maybe the status quo is acceptable to most cambodians. it is hard to know given the repression of political dissent. my guest is the veteran exiled opposition leader sam rainsy. has hun sen outwitted his enemies? sam rainsy, welcome to hardtalk. it is a great pleasure to have you

in the studio, i wonder