it s six in the morning in singapore, and 11 at night in london. we begin in ukriane, where russia has launched its biggest wave of drone attacks on the country in months. ten regions were targeted, and at least three civilians were killed. this comes after a lull in russian attacks on civilian targets in recent months which saw the capital, kyiv, go days without an attack. the southern city of odesa has also been targeted. russia has stepped up its aerial attacks ahead of an expected offensive by ukraine. a ukrainian general in bakhmut said russia had intensified its shelling of the devastated city too. russia s wagner group boss says moscow has agreed to his demands for more ammunition days after he threatened to withdraw his men from bakhmut. russian troops and fighters from wagner, a private military company, have been trying to capture bakhmut for months despite the city s questionable strategic value. meanwhile, the british foreign ministerjames cleverly is travelli
let s get down to business. hsbc has just reported a 92% surge in quarterly profit. rising interest rates helped to swell its net interest income. europe s largest bank that s headquartered in london said pre tax earnings ringed in at $5.2 billion for the fourth quarter that s better than expected and up from $2.7 billion the year before. but it s biggest shareholder, ping an insurance of china, is putting pressure on the board to pivot further east. that s one of the challenges facing hsbc. let s discuss this with will walker arnott, senior investment manager, charles stanley good morning. talk about numbers. shareholders will benefit. hsbc did well in the last quarter- benefit. hsbc did well in the last quarter. yes, benefit. hsbc did well in the last quarter. yes, strong - last quarter. yes, strong results which would have pleased the market and beat expectations, as outlined. gather up 30% over last year, and the results explain why. what strip on the results, first