and the best actor. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday. thank you for your company this morning. we start this hour in the uk — where the princess of wales has apologised for what she calls "any confusion" after she said she edited a photograph of her and her children. her statement came after five news agencies retracted it over editing concerns. the image, taken by the prince of wales, was the first of catherine to be released since her surgery injanuary. the princess of wales was seen on monday being driven out of windsor in a car with prince william, as he travelled to the commonwealth day service which she did not attend. our royal correpondent daniela relph has more. very nice to see you guys. the prince of wales this evening at an event related to his earth shot environmental project in london. at the end of a day filled with unexpected twists and turns. prince william took this photo of his wife and children that were supposed to reassure, to calm the more outlandish rumours about the princess's condition. but its publication has done the opposite. today, the princess was seen with her husband, being driven from windsor. kensington palace said she had a private appointment. last night, the first of five news agencies issued dramatically—worded "kill notices", withdrawing the picture of the princess and her children, due to what the agencies said were "inconsistencies" in the image. then this morning, a social media post from the princess of wales herself, where she admitted she had made cosmetic changes to the picture. she said... have you got a favourite shot? photography is a passion for the princess of wales, reflected in some of her public engagements. and over the years, she has released many of her own pictures with little fuss. but times are different now. the clamour for information on her current condition remains intense, and it's fuelled the questions about the photo. they've misled the public by putting an image out there that was manipulated, and it's going to fuel a whole load of speculation and conspiracy about kate and her health. at the commonwealth day service at the abbey, it was business as usual. but the royal party was depleted due to the current health problems. the absent king recorded a video message, played to the congregation. in recent weeks, i have been most deeply touched by your wonderfully kind and thoughtful good wishes for my health and, in return, can only continue to serve you to the best of my ability throughout the commonwealth. it's been a challenging few weeks for the royal family — and the photo controversy has fed the debate over whether we can trust what the palaces tell the public. i wouldn't say it's a trust issue, i haven't heard that. i mean, the princess of wales is an accomplished photographer. she said she edits photographs. she might have been editing family photographs, you know, all the time, for all we know. a photo altered by a princess. her team say she was doing what many others do — trying to make herfamily look as good as possible in a picture. daniela relph, bbc news, windsor. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines... ukraine's president, volodymyr zelensky, says his country is constructing defensive fortifications, 2,000 kilometres long and three lines deep. he called it a massive task, but said the pace of construction was good. ukraine has been losing territory in parts of the front line of late, amid sustained russian offensives. us intelligence agencies have said the country is facing an increasingly fragile world order, including escalating confrontation with china and russia. agency chiefs told members of the senate intelligence committee that china was providing increasing economic and security assistance to russia since moscow's invasion of ukraine. india's government has announced plans to enact a controversial citizenship law that has been criticised for being anti—muslim. it will allow non—muslim religious minorities from pakistan, bangladesh, and afghanistan to seek citizenship. the authorities say it will help those facing persecution. the law was passed in 2019, sparking deadly protests. donald trump has cautioned against banning tiktok in the united states. it marks a major reversal ahead of a potential vote in congress on forcing the apps chinese owners to sell. presidentjoe biden says he will sign the bill if it passes. america's top diplomat is injamaica, for crisis talks on the worsening violence in haiti. the eu has evacuated all of its diplomatic staff from the island nation, after large scale jail breaks involving around 4,000 prisoners. antony blinken said that the united states would contribute additional funding to a un—backed multinational security force intended to help haitian police fight gangs, as well as humanitarian aid. what we've seen in recent days again should remind us that the already—challenging and difficult security situation has deteriorated even further, and makes the multinational support mission even more important than ever. the united nations security council has reaffirmed that, and reaffirmed a collective commitment to deploy it as quickly as possible. given this increasingly urgent need, i'm announcing today that the united states department of defence is doubling its approved support for the mission, from $100 million to $200 million. at that brings the total us support for it to $300 million for this effort. i'm also announcing additional humanitarian assistance for the people of haiti — $33 million to further support their health and food security. now, all of us know that only the haitian people can, and only the haitian people should determine their own future. heavily—armed gangs are demanding the resignation of the unelected prime minister, ariel henry, who is stranded in puerto rico. the world food programme has warned of famine conditions in the haitian capital, port—au—prince, where armed groups are fighting in the streets for political control — as will grant reports. haiti is in freefall towards total anarchy. the past few days have seen a relentless escalation of violence as gunmen roam the streets, firing on police and attacking government buildings. the situation was already at breaking point. gangs opposed to the country's unelected prime minister, ariel henry, have rained bullets on the international airport, closing it down. when he attempted to return to haiti last week, his plane was turned away. in his absence, gangs now control more than 80% of the capital. police stations a particular target. haiti's main gang leaderjimmy "barbecue" cherizier says he's prepared to take country to civil war unless mr henry resigns. there are growing fears of an exodus. millions of haitians now face famine. a humanitarian emergency on top of the breakdown in law and order. a lucky few did manage to get out. us military personnel airlifted its nonessential embassy staff to safety. meanwhile, the situation in the general hospital in port—au—prince is especially dire. a dead body lies near patients waiting in vain for treatment, rapidly decomposing in the caribbean heat. except for the patients, the hospital is abandoned. "there are no doctors, they all fled last week," said this patient. "we hear the explosions and gunfire outside but we must have courage and stay here." others have no choice but to take their chances amid the violence and chaos. translation: i've got three kids, i'm their i mother and their father. gunmen came here and stole all our money but when you have three mouths to feed, what can you do? the anxiety is killing me. what if i get shot dead? who will take care of my children then? with no sign of an end to the crisis in sight, regional leaders and the us secretary of state have met injamaica for an emergency summit. on this evidence though, haiti is now perilously close to becoming a failed state. will grant, bbc news. earlier i spoke to wethzer piercin, a journalist in the capital port—au—prince, and asked him what the situation on the ground is like. in 2023, over 3,000 people had to flee their homes in haiti. now 80% of the capital of haiti, port—au—prince, is under the control of gangs. at the end of the last month, february, two largest prisons in haiti have been emptied. nearly 4,000 prisoners escaped — amongst them, there are notorious gang leaders. the largest hospital in the country is not functioning now. the international airport, businesses, schools remain closed. the ports and main wards are blocked now, and people are confronted with a highly challenging situation. and as the international media reported since the last days, there are a lot of people that are leaving their homes that are forced to leave their homes because of gang harm. so i think that haiti is facing a very difficult situation now. it sounds like it could be chaotic for people living in port—au—prince. you yourself are there, can you tell us what you've seen in the streets? yes — every morning i leave home to go to work. and sometimes you can see corpses in the streets, you see lifeless bodies in the streets. and you can see men with guns, you can hear men shooting. so you can see people with their beds, their kids that are living in their home and they don't know where they are going. so it's kind of a nightmare that we are living in port—au—prince now, a lot of neighbourhoods in the area of the metropolitan area — that is the situation we are facing now, in the streets of around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the conservative party's former deputy chairman, lee anderson, has become reform uk's first—ever mp. the move comes after he was suspended as a tory mp when he refused to apologise for claims islamists had "control" of the london mayor, sadiq khan. the home secretary, james cleverly, said mr anderson had "made a real mistake" by defecting. constance marten has told a jury that she planned to smuggle her newborn baby abroad because herfamily had obtained a "travel ban" from the high court." ms marten and her partner, mark gordon, both deny the manslaughter by gross negligence of their daughter, victoria. the girl's body was found in a bag in 2023. hand sanitiser is out, and air fryers and vinyl are in — according to statisticians tracking the cost of living. they've updated some of the items in the "basket of goods", which are used by the office for national statistics to measure inflation. sofa beds and rotisserie chickens have been removed — and gluten—free bread is being added. you're live with bbc news. the un secretary—general has called for a ceasefire in gaza to mark the start of ramadan — the muslim month of fasting. antonio guterres also called for the release of hostages held by hamas and the speedy delivery of aid to the palestinian territory, warning a threatened israeli assault on the southern city of rafah could put gaza into "a deeper circle of hell". my strongest appeal today is to honour the spirit of ramadan by silencing the guns, and removing all obstacles to ensure the delivery of life—saving aid at the speed and massive scale required. at the same time, and in the ramadan spirit of compassion, i've called for the immediate release of all hostages. the eyes of the world are watching, the eyes of history are watching. we cannot look away, we must act to avoid more preventable death. thejordanian foreign minister, ayman safadi, has warned restrictions imposed on muslim worshippers during the holy month of ramadan was pushing the situation towards an explosion. israeli police used batons to prevent hundreds of young palestinians from entering al—aqsa mosque — the third—holiest site in islam. the compound — also the holiest place injudaism, known as temple mount — is often a flashpoint during flare—ups in the israel—palestinian conflict. anna foster reports from the old city at the beginning of the holy period. i want to show you what it's like at the moment, here in the muslim quarter of the old city. this part in eastjerusalem, normally on the first day of ramadan, would be so busy. and i've been talking to some of these stallholders here who should be doing a roaring trade, selling sweets. and even though you can see people passing by and it looks busy. one woman said to me, actually, normally on the first day of ramadan, you would not be able to move. of ramadan, you would not be able to move. would be pressing, people would be pushing. and actually, comparatively, this is so quiet because this ramadan does not feel like a normal celebration. people here are thinking about palestinians in gaza, particularly about the issues they're facing with hunger. don't forget, the united nations has said that a quarter of palestinians in gaza are facing starvation at the moment. they won't be breaking their fast with anything like the kind of food that you would get here at the end of today. and i also just want to show you as well down here now, this is the narrow street that takes you down to al—aqsa mosque. and we saw last night there were videos that started to circulate on social media of israeli security forces actually pushing back young palestinians. they were beating them with batons, trying to keep people away because this area is always tense at the time of ramadan. and this year is so different that there are real concerns that, once again, violent clashes could break out here. sweden has become the 32nd member of nato — the north atlantic treaty organisation. to mark the moment, sweden's prime minister, ulf kristersson, took part in a flag—raising ceremony in brussels. sweden formally applied to join — along with finland — after russia's invasion of ukraine forced the two countries to rethink their national security policies. their accession is the most significant expansion of nato in decades. speaking to the bbc, nato's secretary general — jens stoltenberg — spoke of the importance of democratic nations coming together we see how china's propping up the russian economy, and how russia's more and more dependent on china. so these are two sides of the same challenge — so when authoritarian powers are coming closer and closer, including working more and more closer with iran and north korea, then it's even more important that democratic nations stand together in nato and protect our values. all this amid warnings of a renewed threat to europe from russia, following its full scale invasion of ukraine. jonathan beale reports from the arctic circle. nato says it's a bulwalk for peace... ..but it's preparing for war. this just part of its massive military exercise taking right across europe. and with newest members sweden and finland in no doubt as to why they've joined. being alone against russia is like... why take that risk when you canjoin nato? i personally feel a lot safer because now we have allies to depend on. in this scenario, they've come to defend northern norway after its been invaded. they're not calling the enemy russia, but it is a near neighbour. the aim of this exercise is to demonstrate how nato would come to the aid of an ally under attack. it is the very principle of the alliance — an attack on one is an attack on all. butjust how likely is that? no—one's saying the threat is imminent. russia's preoccupied with its war in ukraine. but it is moscow's aggression that's sounding the alarm. the important thing is, it's not if they will reinforce themselves, it's how long will they take. you're sure russia is a threat? i'm sure that russia is a threat, yes. and that we need to be even stronger as an allied country in the upcoming five or ten years. it's those living closest who are most aware of the threat. the country's now boosting defence spending but also mentally preparing themselves for war. both finland and norway share a border with russia and they've already strengthened their defences with a citizen army. teachers, nurses and carpenters who are also part—time soldiers. these are members of norway's home guard. but its no dad's army, most are young and ready to fight. in world war ii, this county was burned down. the whole county. so my grandparents, everyone, they had to flee and, yeah, so that's my option. just stay here and fight and do something i'm trained for. i'd rather stay here and fight, yeah. i look at the newspaper more often now than i did before just to see if there's something that's happened, especially with russia. for these nordic allies, it is now strength in numbers. but for russia, it's the mother of all unintended consequences. more nato on its border. jonathan beale, bbc news, the arctic circle. it's been a long—feared development in the worldwide spread of bird flu. for the first time, it's been found in penguins in sub—antarctica. the virus has been discovered in gentoo and king penguins. hundreds of thousands of them live in south georgia — an island teeming with birdlife. our science editor rebecca morelle has more. they come to the islands of south georgia to nest and raise their chicks. gentoo penguins are a vital part of a wildlife haven. but now avian flu has arrived and five gentoos have tested positive. five more cases have been detected in a separate king penguin colony, too. it's the first time this deadly virus has been confirmed in penguins in the sub—antarctic. south georgia is a spectacular island. there are so many unique concentrations of wildlife, most of which are globally important. so if bird flu were to take ahold and cause very high mortalities across the island, it would would be of conservation concern. scientists think migratory birds — skuas and giant petrels — brought avian flu from south america. but these birds also migrate to antarctica, and the fear is they'll carry the virus to this pristine wilderness and infect more species there. like emperor penguins — already under threat from climate change as the sea ice vanishes. but there are still many unknowns about how the virus will spread. penguins do form colonies and live in very close proximity to each other so that in itself would lend itself to the idea that they might spread the virus rapidly between each other. but we don't know how susceptible penguins are. we know that there have been die—offs in penguins, but we don't know how easily the virus can get into different penguin species. avian flu has already devastated wild birds around the world, including tens of thousands in the uk. it's crossing over into mammals too. with a virus so widespread, it's been a question of when, not if, it would arrive in the south polar region. so far, it's only had a small impact on the penguins there, but scientists will be monitoring the colonies closely. rebecca morelle, bbc news. at the oscars it was a night to rememberfor the big winner, the film oppenheimer, which scooped no fewer than seven awards, including best picture, best director for christopher nolan, and best actor for cillian murphy. and while barbie was last year s highest grossing film, it won just a single award, for best song. katie razzall reports from hollywood. # i'm just ken, anywhere else i'd be a ten... ryan gosling and a stage full of kens brought the oscars�* house down. the film only walked away with one actually award, but barbie and this performance stole the show. the question was, how big would rival oppenheimer go? it didn't break records thanks to wins by a quirky frankenstein—esque movie... poor things. ..mainly for british creative talent behind the camera... well, this is crazy. ..and, in the most nail—biting race of the night, for its lead... emma stone. ..and her original, unpredictable performance. my dress is broken. i think it happened during i'mjust ken. an unplanned wardrobe malfunction in a ceremony planned to the hilt, complete with gimmicks — john cena giving out the oscar for best costume without one of his own, the dog from anatomy of a fall watching on. there were serious moments, too. the director of the zone of interest, whose holocaust film in german won best international feature — the first british movie ever to do that — used the podium to call for peace. whether the victims of october 7th in israel or the ongoing attack on gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization. how do we resist? da'vine joy randolph. but the big awards went mainly as predicted. da'vine joy randolph was always a dead cert for best supporting actress. and now i realise ijust need to be myself. and i thank you. and the oscar goes to... it was oppenheimer�*s night, though. first oscars for robert downey jr, as best supporting actor... cillian murphy. ..and for cillian murphy, who completed his sweep of the awards season. i would really like to dedicate this to the peacemake rs everywhere. and the oscar goes to... christopher nolan, oppenheimer. christopher nolan rewarded, unusually in recent years, for a big budget film people actually went to see. movies are just a little bit over 100 years old. we don't know where this incredible journey is going from here, but to know that you think that i'm a meaningful part of it means the world to me. thank you very much. even if the best picture announcement by al pacino was a bit abrupt. and i see oppenheimer... oppenheimer triumphed, but the most popular film of the year... #just ken! ..barbie, won for sheer entertainment value. katie razzall, bbc news, los angeles. that's all for now — stay with bbc news. hello there. we've still got significant problems with a lot of ground water lying around across the southern half of the uk. there are numerous flood warnings out for that, and as well as some large waves around southern western coast. the warnings are all on the website, but we are in for more rain. it's already been moving in through the evening and overnight across the western part of the uk. this is for the rest of the week — you can see the rainfall totals amounting to perhaps 30—110 millimetres again, for many parts. this is the current arm of cloud that's moving in the next area of low pressure, which will give some wet weather through the remainder of the night and into the start of our tuesday morning. perhaps a little bit of mist and fog in central and eastern areas, a bit chilly here, touch of frost in the north — but this is the main story, really quite wet through the rush hour across parts of northern ireland, initially across wales and southern and central england, moving towards the southeast, as well. so it could be quite nasty — hazardous driving conditions, lots of spray and standing water around. that main pulse of rain for many of us lasting 3—4 hours before starting to move out the way, but we will be left with a legacy of cloud following on behind. quite a bit of that even to the north of the front, across scotland, perhaps some brightness in the far north. still quite a keen southeasterly breeze here, but for most of us, it's a south—westerly, brisker wind — and it's milder, 13—14 celsius, because we're in a warm sector. and as we go through the night, we'll see this low pressure gathering forces and becoming closer to the north, bringing windier weather and wetter weather, as well, as it sinks southwards. so, by wednesday, we think sitting as a slow—moving band of rain, parts of northern ireland, northern england, north wales, as well. showers following on behind — a bit chilly, wintry over the hills — but the main story is again, yet more rain, perhaps not arriving into the south and the east until later on. in fact, it mayjust lift northwards then as we go into thursday. still, as you can see, a lot of wet weather in the forecast for the coming week, but milder as we pick up that southerly or south—westerly wind. 15—16 if we see some breaks in the cloud a $1 billion boost for the philippines from american companies as commerce secretary gina raimondo begins a visit to manila. plus, mongolia's coding girls — the project that's breaking gender stereotypes and shoring up the number of women going into tech. joe biden�*s budget wish list — we take a deep dive hello in a very warm welcome. we begin in the philippines, where the us commerce secretary gina raimond has said american companies are set to announce investments amounting to more than $1 billion. raimondo is heading a two—day trade and investment mission, the first of its kind for the southeast asian nation. her delegation includes executives from 22 companies including united airlines, alphabet, visa and microsoft. just look at the many american companies that provide employment and professional development for thousands of filipinos, putting them on a path to higher paying jobs.