tackle rising prices? live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 6am in the morning in singapore and 1am in kyiv, where the united nations secretary general, antonio guterres, has been visiting. he saw for himself some of the places where there've been alleged war crimes by russian troops. it was his first visit to this country since the conflict began more than two months ago. our correspondent sarah rainsford travelled with the secretary general and has this report, which — i want to warn you — contains some details you might find upsetting. it was like a message from moscow, the first missile strike on kyiv in two weeks. a residential building was hit here and civilians wounded, right when the un chief was in town. earlier, antonio guterres had been on the edge of kyiv witnessing the destruction there from russia's war. it is breathtaking. in irpin, there are ruins everywhere you turn. ukrainian families came underfire here in their own homes. antonio guterres was taken to bucha, too, a name that's now synonymous with massacre. when russian troops occupied this town, locals dug a mass grave in the churchyard for civilians shot in the streets. mr guterres called war "evil" and "absurd". i am glad that international criminal court sees the situation, that the prosecutor's office was already here. i fully support the international criminal court and i appeal to the russian federation to accept to cooperate. he got a warm welcome at the presidential palace. volodymyr zelensky had been annoyed mr guterres went to moscow first, when vladimir putin won't accept any talk of russian atrocities, but it seems the un could report progress on helping the last people trapped in mariupol. translation: we dedicated much of our time to this issue, _ and like the relatives of those trapped at azovstal, we will have a successful result bringing people back alive. in bucha, the morgue is still receiving bodies exhumed from shallow graves, gathering ever more evidence of war crimes. some of the dead here are just numbers for now, still waiting to be identified. and people are still searching databases for their loved ones a month after russian forces suddenly withdrew. grigori just found his son. he tells me, "vlodymir was shot, then burned. "only his bones are left to bury." at the town cemetery, ludmilla described how her husband was killed with a single shot to the head. she still has his hat with the bullet holes. valieri had just come out of their bomb shelter to make a phone call. at last, ludmilla can give him a proper burial in the graveyard, not their garden. in bucha alone, more than 400 civilians were killed. translation: they should be prosecuted, they have - to be, but who knows? putin should be first and his band of war criminals. this has happened because no—one punished russia sooner and russia corrupted the whole world with its oil and its money. there are already so many personal tragedies in ukraine, in a war that russia launched and shows no sign it's ready to stop. sarah rainsford, bbc news, bucha. president biden has asked the us congress for $33 billion in extra funding for ukraine. he said the package would support the government in kyiv for the next five months. he called for the funding to be approved as quickly as possible and that it was designed to defend ukraine rather than attack russia. he made the announcment from the white house. much of the new equipment we've announced in the past two weeks has already gotten to ukraine, where it can be put to direct use on the battlefield. however, we've almost exhausted what we call — the fancy phrase — the drawdown authority that congress authorised for ukraine in a bipartisan spending the last month. basically, we're out of money. and so that's why today, in order to sustain ukraine as it continues to fight, i'm sending congress a supplemental budget request that's going to keep weapons and ammunition flowing without interruption to the brave ukrainian fighters and continue delivering economic and humanitarian assistance to the ukrainian people. presidentjoe biden there. let's stay in washington. we can speak to the former american diplomat who's held a variety of senior roles within multiple us administrations, dennis ross. it's great to have you on the programme, mr ross. ijust want to start by asking you, you spend time in your career mediating the middle east as the former middle east envoy, and now it must be really strange to have this conflict in europe become the central focus that the world is engaged in right now. it's such a fair question, because we had all become accustomed to the idea that conflict in europe were something you referred to historically, they were not something that were part of our reality today, whereas conflicts in the middle east still seems to be the middle east still seems to be the norm, and we are sadly being reminded war in europe is not unfortunately relegated to history and the war that we are witnessing is one that seems to respect, at least from the russian side, almost no rules. so, really, it is really difficult to have to contemplate this, we do have to face up to it, and i think one of the things you are seeing president biden do is acknowledge that we need the wherewithal to be able to provide help to the ukrainians so they can defend themselves. haw help to the ukrainians so they can defend themselves. how concerned are ou, mr defend themselves. how concerned are you. mr ross. — defend themselves. how concerned are you, mr ross, about _ defend themselves. how concerned are you, mr ross, about the _ defend themselves. how concerned are you, mr ross, about the fact _ defend themselves. how concerned are you, mr ross, about the fact that - you, mr ross, about the fact that this conflict might escalate into neighbouring states, which could even pick the us and russia get into a new cold war in this era? the dancer a new cold war in this era? the danger of _ a new cold war in this era? the danger of a _ a new cold war in this era? the danger of a new _ a new cold war in this era? tue: danger of a new cold a new cold war in this era? tte: danger of a new cold war i think is already upon us. the question is whether or not that new cold war translates in anyway potentially into a hot war. i think it is pretty clear the united states does not want to get into a shooting war with russia and i think it is also clear president putin doesn't want to get into shooting war with us. he has his hands full right now. the performance of the russian military, frankly, has been awful and i do not think he is really looking to expand more. his own military rent was reeling. i don't think he needs to expand the war, i think he wants to create the impression there is a danger of escalation as a way of trying to deter us from doing more to be helpful to the ukrainians. i think what you seeing president biden... go ahead, i am sorry. just to “um biden... go ahead, i am sorry. just toiump in — biden... go ahead, i am sorry. just to jump in there. — biden... go ahead, i am sorry. just tojump in there, mr ross, we have heard president putin imply and threaten to use nuclear weapons. is he bluffing? threaten to use nuclear weapons. is he i“fins?— he bluffing? yes, he does. i think that is meant _ he bluffing? yes, he does. i think that is meant to _ he bluffing? yes, he does. i think that is meant to try _ he bluffing? yes, he does. i think that is meant to try to _ he bluffing? yes, he does. i think that is meant to try to frighten i he bluffing? yes, he does. i think that is meant to try to frighten us j that is meant to try to frighten us about not providing support. nuclear war is not something an nuclear threat is on something that he wants to happen. i think as long as we respect certain limits, meaning we don't directly enter the fight, the risk of that kind of escalation is low, but i think we have to be mindful, we take account of what he has to say, but we also have her possibility to help the ukrainians, who are fighting a completely defensive or against someone who sought and to invade ukraine but pretty much to wipe ukraine's separate identity off the map. 50 separate identity off the map. so what happens, mr ross, if russia uses a kind of small tactical nuclear weapon inside ukraine? what would the west, what would president biden do in that situation? that would be such _ biden do in that situation? that would be such an _ biden do in that situation? ttegt would be such an awful development, it would break a taboo, and i'm afraid once a tactical nuclear weapon is used, it means this is a weapon is used, it means this is a weapon that is usable. we have looked at nuclear weapons and we have had the russians themselves sign—up to commitments and statements that nuclear weapons should never be used at nuclear war must ever be fought. if the russians and up breaking that taboo, suddenly theissue and up breaking that taboo, suddenly the issue of using nuclear weapons becomes thinkable, and we are all under dramatically worse circumstances in those circumstances. i don't think president putin should think that he does it and he does not suffer any consequences worse that he is already suffering. tar consequences worse that he is already suffering.— consequences worse that he is already suffering. for the last 40 ears or already suffering. for the last 40 years or so. _ already suffering. for the last 40 years or so. i _ already suffering. for the last 40 years or so, i think— already suffering. for the last 40 years or so, i think it _ already suffering. for the last 40 years or so, i think it would - already suffering. for the last 40 years or so, i think it would be i years or so, i think it would be fair to say, certainly for people in my generation, mr ross, the idea that nuclear war was a relic of the past — in your view, is that the case today? t past - in your view, is that the case today?— past - in your view, is that the case today? i still think that it is something _ case today? i still think that it is something that _ case today? i still think that it is something that we _ case today? i still think that it is something that we are _ case today? i still think that it is something that we are not - case today? i still think that it is j something that we are not going case today? i still think that it is i something that we are not going to see, but i have to admit the threshold for it seems lower than today than it did in the past, and thatis today than it did in the past, and that is not a good thing. i think we all want to raise that threshold, not lower it.— all want to raise that threshold, not lower it. dennis ross there, thank you _ not lower it. dennis ross there, thank you so — not lower it. dennis ross there, thank you so much _ not lower it. dennis ross there, thank you so much for— not lower it. dennis ross there, thank you so much forjoining i not lower it. dennis ross there, | thank you so much forjoining us not lower it. dennis ross there, i thank you so much forjoining us on the programme with your thoughts. fantastic to get you on newsday. thank you, my pleasure. one more piece of news from ukraine. the uk foreign office has confirmed that a british national has been killed in ukraine and a second is missing. the man has been named locally as scott sibley, who is understood to have been fighting for ukrainian forces. there are currently no details about the other person who has disappeared. turning to china now, where the megacity of guangzhou has cancelled hundreds of flights and launched mass testing afterjust one suspected covid—i9 case. it mirrors the approach in shanghai which has been under lockdown for the past five weeks. but there are signs of a small shift in government policy, as robin brant reports. we are approaching the end of our fifth week of a lockdown that has confined almost everyone in this city — this vast city of almost 25 million people — to their homes, or in some cases their places of work. now, the good news is that the statistics appear to show the cases are consistently coming down. so that is good news. but this thing has not bottomed out yet. the government is shifting the goalposts slightly. it's not aiming for absolute zero covid now. what it's aiming for is something it calls "societal zero covid", so no cases are springing up outside of quarantine centres, outside of places where people already identified are being contained. so that's what it's aiming for by this weekend. it has been brutal, though, for many people. tens of thousands taken off to quarantine centres, many of them 100 miles or more away from shanghai, and kept in varying conditions. some of those people have been very young, some have been very old, but all of them taken away because this government remains committed to maintaining its zero covid policy. if you test positive for covid here, symptomatic or asymptomatic, you are taken off at some point to a quarantine facility. now, what is clear, as i said, as we approach the end of the fifth week of lockdown here is that the government in shanghai — and overall, xijinping, the man at the very top — remain committed to this policy of containing zero covid here and then trying to maintain it. no exceptions. early on, it looked like shanghai was trying to go another way, a dynamic approach — staggered lockdowns, maybe even living with it. that is not happening. the focus now is slightly shifting to the capital, beijing, hugely symbolic, obviously. a handful of cases there. they appear to be spread across the city. they are going ahead with some kind of whac—a—mole, localised lockdowns. but beijing is not the same as shanghai. it's always been like a fortress, and so they have a much better chance there of containing it and containing it early. here in shanghai, as i said, it hasn't bottomed out yet, but at the moment, the statistics seem to suggest that maybe by this weekend, they will have contained it to the extent they want to. the bbc�*s robin brant there. and in the next edition of newsday, we will be speaking to a psychologist about what impact the constant cycle of lockdowns in china is having on the mental health of people there. so so do stay tuned for that. a heatwave which has gripped india for the past few weeks is continuing — with warnings that it will get worse. experts are forecasting a gradual rise in maximum temperatures in most parts of north—western and central india this week. delhi is expected to reach 44 degrees celsius. while heatwaves are common in india, especially in may and june, this year's high temperatures started in march. our correspondent vineet khare is in delhi. it is 42 degrees centigrade here in delhi, and as i stand here, i can feel the heat on my skin. march was the hottest month ever and april was never this hot, and the worry here in india is that we have may and june coming up, which is the summer season here in india. an official i spoke to said that this is an extreme situation and they are comparing the data with the situation back in 2010, when he said a similar situation prevailed. what officials are saying is that for the next five days, the heatwave condition will prevail in northwest and in central india and over the next three days in east india. and what that means is that the temperature would be somewhere around 43—45 degrees centigrade in parts of uttar pradesh, madhya pradesh and west bengal and 40—43 degrees in delhi and surrounding areas. if you want to get in touch with me, i'm on twitter — @bbckarishma i'm looking forward to hearing from you. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: workers stage mass walk—outs across sri lanka, in protest at the financial crisis which is crippling the country's economy. nothing, it seemed, was too big to withstand the force of the tornado. the extent of the devastation will lead to renewed calls for government help to build better housing. internationally, there have already been protests. sweden says it received no warning of the accident. indeed, the russians at first denied anything had gone wrong. only when radioactivity levels began to increase outside russia were they forced to admit the accident. for the mujahideen, the mood here is of great celebration. this is the end of a 12—year war for them. they've taken the capital, which they've been fighting for for so long. it was 7.00 in the morning _ on the day when power began to pass from the minority to the majority, when africa, after 300 years, - reclaimed its last white colony. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines: the head of the united nations sees for himself the price paid by civilians during russia's invasion of ukraine. president biden has asked congress for $33 billion in extra support for ukraine. in sri lanka, a nationwide strike has been taking place to try to force the government to resign over the country's unprecedented economic crisis. transport, health and banking services were all hit by the industrial action. the move follows weeks of protests over rising prices and a worsening shortages of basic supplies, including fuel and food. our south asia regional editor anbarasan ethirajan reports from colombo. waving sri lanka's nationalflags, thousands of people marched through the streets of colombo. they came from all walks of life — banks, businesses and farming. the slogans against the government were strong and powerful, with the dwindling foreign exchange reserves, the government has banned the imports of several essential items. as a result, prices have escalated, hitting millions hard. there is no electricity, there's no petrol, there are sometimes kilometre—long queues for diesel. the voice of the people and the demands of the people will be met because there really is no option. the protesters want president gota baya rajapa ksa and the entire cabinet to step down. with trade unions joining the protest, the government is under pressure. tens of thousands of protesters have come from different parts of sri lanka expressing their anger against the government of president gotabaya rajapaksa. people here say they don't have any faith in the government in handling this economic crisis. but mr rajapaksa have rejected calls for his resignation and instead expressed his willingness to form an interim government. the government's negotiations with the imf for a bailout loan has not satisfied some of these protesters. people are celebrating going to the imf. you know that the imf is not an organisation to come to alleviate for the poor. it aims to preserve the global monetary system. now, they have come, unfortunately... it's ok to go to them if you have billion—dollar reserves and you have to them if you have billion—dollar reserves and you have a few things, you can manage that. but when you are destitute, you have to currently go by their prescription. more protests are being planned to put pressure on the government to resign. in sri lanka, many fear the worst is yet to come before it gets better. anbarasan ethirajan, bbc news, colombo. higher prices are also a focus in indonesia, which is the world's largest producer of palm oil. it's banned the export of the product following a domestic shortage that has sparked street protests. it's expected to further contribute to higher globalfood prices, at a time when costs are already under pressure. indonesia accounts for 59% of global output of palm oil, which is used in everything from chocolate and frying fats to cosmetics, soap and cleaning products. the announcement shocked the markets, throwing the price of palm oil to over $1,850 a tonne. that's a 10% increase from just a few days earlier. naturally, the ban on palm oil exports has been welcomed by ordinary indonesians. street vendors in the capital jakarta are among those most affected by high prices. the are hopeful the intervention by presidentjoko widodo's government will see the cost of palm oil begin to fall. translation: i hope that there won't be any rise in oil prices, i mrjoko widodo. i hope the prices stay stable. please understand — the poor people here, they can't manage if prices go up again. analysts, though, say banning exports of palm oil — or cpo — could have damaging effects on the economy. cpo contributes more than 12% of non—oil and gas export, so injust one month, we can get more than 3 billion us dollars from the cpo. so when the cpo got banned, it will hurt in rupiah. it will destabilise the financial services, financial system in indonesia. i think it's damaging also the currency in the long run. that's the situation in indonesia. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. the premier of the british virgin islands, andrew fahie, has been arrested in miami for money laundering and conspiracy to import a controlled substance. the british virgin islands are a british overseas territory, and the uk's foreign secretary liz truss says she appalled by what she called these serious allegations. the world health organization says it's concerned by a rise in coronavirus cases and other communicable diseases in africa. it blamed the upsurge in covid on a doubling of infections in south africa, which has recorded the most cases and deaths on the continent. turkey's president, recep tayyip erdogan, is visiting saudi arabia for the first time since the murder ofjamal khashoggi at the saudi consulate in istanbul in 2018, which caused a rift in ties between the two countries. now, are flying cars just a sci—fi fantasy? or could they one day be lifting off to appear in our daily lives? a dutch company that makes them has set up a base at coventry airport in the uk, so our midlands correspondent phil mackie went to find out more. for as long as there have been cars and planes, someone's been trying to combine the two. this italian model was built in the 1940s. the trouble is they've never been really practical, but now things could be about to change. so, we have to stop dreaming, and we are now at the very last stage of processing the regulations within permissions for flight with this vehicle. so, it's getting so close. the liberty is made by a dutch company which is nearing the end of the long process to get everything licensed and approved. the question is — who's going to buy one? well, they've already got lots of orders. this is the fastest way to become a pilot, so there's always a small james bond seat in every heart of every guy and every girl, so that's where we are selling to. it takes less than ten minutes to turn it from a plane to a car. you could land it at any airfield and then drive home. if you want to buy one of these, it's going to cost you 300,000 euros. sounds a lot, but probably a snip if you want to be at the forefront of what they're promising will be a new motoring and aviation revolution. you'll need a private pilot's licence, but you can learn both here in coventry and in oxford. there've been many false starts in bringing a flying plane to market. next year, they reckon, is when you may see one driving along a street near you. phil mackie, bbc news, coventry. well, before we go, i want to tell you about a royal visit. the prince of wales and the duchess of cornwall have been at the bbc�*s headquarters at broadcasting house in london. prince charles and camilla met staff to mark the 90th anniversary of the bbc world service. you can see there the faces of many of our colleagues in the building. thanks so much for watching. do stay with bbc news. hello there. the month of april has been an exceptionally dry month up and down the country. that's because we've had high pressure dominating the weather scene. now, as we head into the may bank holiday, it looks like this area of low pressure will bring some rainfall, some of it heavy across the northwest. as it spreads south across the uk, it will tend to weaken. but high pressure will bring another fine day for friday. a chilly start, mind you, across northern and western areas. plenty of sunshine here. again, more cloud for east and southeast england and northeast scotland. here, we'll see a few showers into the afternoon, the odd one across the far southeast. and temperatures will reach highs around the mid—teens for many of us, but we could see 17 or 18 through the central belt of scotland. our winds will be light but still fresh through the channel. now, as we head through friday night, under largely clear skies, certainly for england and wales, it'll turn quite chilly. but we'll start to see the first signs of that area of low pressure pushing into the northwest, so here, less cold as the cloud and the breeze starts to pick up. but a touch of frost across parts of england and wales. so for the weekend, it's quite a different feel. we will see this rain pushing its way southwards and eastwards. like i mentioned, it will be weakening somewhat. so into saturday, high pressure holds on again for much of england and wales. low pressure will start to pile into scotland and northern ireland, so here, it will be turning breezier and quite wet. some moderate bursts of rain across the north and the west of scotland. after that chilly start, though, england and wales will see another fine day with quite a bit of sunshine around, though cloud will tend to thicken across northern and western areas. so where we have the rain, then, that'll impact the temperatures, the low teens. quite a warm day to come for england and wales where we have all that sunshine. now, as we head through saturday night, that area of cloud and rain in the north begins to push its way southwards into much of england and wales, but it will be a weakening feature and conditions will dry up across the far north of scotland. but we hold onto a lot of cloud, so saturday night will be a milder one across the board. sunday promises to be a rather cloudy day, quite damp for parts of england and wales. the rain at this stage will be quite light and patchy, some drizzly rain. but the northern half of the country will see the driest of the conditions on sunday, so it's a reversal of fortunes and a bit of sunshine. we could make 16, 17 degrees. a little bit fresher further south because we'll have the thickest of the cloud. bank holiday monday looks a little bit drier. there could be a little bit of rain at times on tuesday. generally, it's a dry week next week, and there are just hints of it turning a little bit warmer across the south by friday. hello and welcome to today's addition of the papers. i'm joined by two of my guests they gave to both of you forjoining me today. let's take a look at the front pages from tomorrow. let's take a look at what the front page are telling us tomorrow. the war in ukraine is covered on many of the front pages. the financial times reports that joe biden is asking congress for an extra $33—billion — a sign he expects a long and intensifying conflict. the metro leads with