airfield after court proceedings wrapped up. is expected to head to canberra and australia, these islands relatively close to australia another reason it is believed this territory was selected but there you see the plane heading off carrying julian assange back to australia as we heard he is a free man and to depart to australia without those us extradition charges anymore. let's hear from extradition charges anymore. let's hearfrom his longest serving lawyer who was speaking right after court ended.— right after court ended. today is an historic _ right after court ended. today is an historic day. _ right after court ended. today is an historic day. he - right after court ended. today is an historic day. he has - is an historic day. he has served a 14—year—old legal battle and after 14 years of legal battles he can go home a free man. this brings to an end a case which has been seen as the greatest threat to the first amendment in the 21st century. first amendment in the 21st centu . , , ., century. this is what the australian _ century. this is what the australian prime - century. this is what the | australian prime minister century. this is what the - australian prime minister had to say. australian prime minister had to sa . , , ., to say. this is a welcome development _ to say. this is a welcome development but - to say. this is a welcome development but we - to say. this is a welcome - development but we welcome it and those proceedings are sensitive and should be respected. this is not something that has happened in the last— something that has happened in the last 24 hours, this is something that has been considered, patient, worked through. _ considered, patient, worked through, and a calibrated way. which — through, and a calibrated way. which is — through, and a calibrated way. which is how australia conducts ourselves — which is how australia conducts ourselves internationally. for the latest _ ourselves internationally. for the latest on _ ourselves internationally. pr?" the latest on the story including a timeline on his long—running legal battle and analysis from correspondence go to our website. united nations is calling for restraint after at least five people were killed hundreds more reportedly injured and parliament was set on fire amid protesting in kenya. these were the scenes on tuesday in nairobi, as police and protesters clashed over a controversial bill that would raise taxes. part of the parliament building was burned after some demonstrators broke through police cordons. most younger kenyans say the bill would add to the nation's cost of living crisis. kenyan president william ruto addressed the nation, saying the protests were hijacked by �*dangerous people' and vowing a full response while deploying the military. from nairobi, barbara plett usher sent this report. explosion they called for a total shutdown, and in towns across kenya today, tens of thousands took to the streets. in nairobi by lunchtime, there were running battles as police tried to hold back the tide of fury. but then this... ..hundreds of demonstrators pushed through the gates of parliament, overwhelming officers lined up outside. gunfire the response was quick and brutal — live shots fired. reports of five killed in the street and dozens more wounded. 0thers made it inside, challenging the government's authority in the building where mps had been voting on the contentious finance bill. this is as close as we feel it's safe to get to parliament because police are firing live rounds there. the government had warned protesters to stay away from parliament, and this has been the response. but the fact that the protesters were able to breach the building and that there have been casualties could galvanise them further. it may also increase the pressure for a government crackdown. this is uncharted territory for president ruto. at the end of the day, he addressed the nation. i have directed all the organs of our national security to deploy measures to thwart any attempts by dangerous criminals to undermine the security and stability of our country. those on the streets earlier were united in anger. i want to demand that our leaders give us accountability. there has been too many years of the system going �*round and round'. we never get accountability from these leaders, such that it has come to a point when we as the people can tell them no and they still go ahead and do what they want to do. this evening, the wounded were being treated in hospital as the streets began to calm. the days ahead will show if protesters heed the president's warning. kenya's powerful are facing an unprecedented challenge from the people. barbara plett usher, bbc news, nairobi. earlier, i spoke to michelle gavin, the former senior director for africa at the us national security council. why do you think this bill has triggered such a massive reaction in kenya? i think in many ways, it's sort of the last straw. there have been concerns about cost of living in kenya for some time — the shocks of the covid pandemic, russia's invasion of ukraine, droughts and then flooding, all of this has affected the kenyan economy. at a time when its labour force is increasing substantially every year, the population is very young and their limited job opportunities are so people are really feeling the strain — add to that ongoing corruption scandals at the elite level that give people very little confidence that when they pay more taxes, they will see the benefits in terms of government services. i want to pick up on one point you made there, a lot of young people taking part in this protest, what does this tell us about the economic situation of young people in kenya in particular? it is dissatisfactory — and i think this is a really important thing to think about, notjust in kenya but throughout many countries in africa where you have young, increasingly urbanised, increasingly digitally connected people who see what life is like in lots of other places and have aspirations, wanting a dignified life and their demands are very, very hard for governments with little fiscal space, very hard for those governments to meet. let's talk about the reaction from the kenyan government here, president ruto vowing to crackdown on violence and anarchy and he referred to those taking part as criminals pretending to be peaceful protesters — what do you think of that characterisation? it's entirely possible that some people engaged in violent activity but it's also clear that the kenyan police used live ammunition on unarmed protesters, there have been numerous incidents of police brutality in kenya, and so, while certainly no—one can condone criminality, destruction of property, i think for a lot of americans who remember the storming of our capitol on january 6, the images of parts of kenya's parliament building smouldering were alarming — it's also important to note that it's notjust the protesters or some segment of protesters responsible for the violence. it comes at the same time as kenya sending a police force to haiti to help clampdown on gang violence, tell us how much pressure you think the kenyan president is under right now? i think he's under a tremendous amount of pressure, he campaigned promising to help the economically disenfranchised, the hustlers in the informal economy but then found himself in a situation where can years debt burden and default meant that the scramble to increase revenue hands the tax races so he's in a difficult spot in terms of appeasing the population, new questions will certainly surface about the wisdom of this deployment to haiti, given the track record of the kenyan police but also, given the fact that the underlying issues in haiti cannot be addressed by a thousand kenyan police even if they perform perfectly. an important point. bigger picture, how important is stability in kenya to the wider region east africa? it's difficult to overstate how important it is. kenya has been a stable regional leader, engaged in diplomacy, trying to bring an end to conflicts in central africa and in the horn, a real kind of bastion of security and an important security partner, certainly to the united states. so the idea of an increasingly fragile kenya is very bad news for east africa and it's bad news for the us and for other democracies. a very quick last question — what do you think that kenya's partners including the us can do in this situation? i think it's important to make clear that things like these abductions of online organisers are hugely problematic in terms of allowing partners to support kenya in a way that helps to generate some newjobs and ease some of this economic pressure. but the same time, it's important to think about how can we create some fiscal space so that the kenyan government doesn't look like the puppet of international financial institutions that demand austerity when the population has a very different set of demand. israel's top court says ultra—0rthodoxjewish religious students can be forced to take part in mandatory military service, from which they are currently exempt. top generals insist it's necessary to draft members of the fast—growing ultra—0rthodox community, in order to relieve troops fighting in gaza. the move has been met with anger and opposition from many in the ultra—orthodox community, and from binyamin neta nyahu's coalition partners. rabbi mordechai bloy is a yeshiva teacher. he's also a member of one of the parties propping up mr netanyahu's government. translation: today is a very difficult day for us, _ and the feeling in the ultra—0rthodox community is of humiliation, that the supreme court is trying to intervene and change our world order. what do they want? studying the torah is not a recent thing, studying the torah has maintained thejewish people for thousands of years. we demand nothing but to study the torah. a february opinion poll found two—thirds of israeli support ending the exemption. the country's opposition leader, yair lapid, welcomed the court's ruling. translation: the games - are over, shady deals are over, the days when soldiers will die and not serve and others die because they served are over. the discrimination between blood and blood is over. we are at war on seven fronts. the idf doesn't have enough soldiers, lives of some reserve soldiers have broken apart due to the stress, if we don't fight together, we will die together. the torah is not an excuse for exemption. 0ur correspondent, sebastian usher has more from jerusalem. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, is facing another big problem, this time internally, after israel's supreme court made a highly significant ruling — essentially that ultraorthodox students who've been exempt for decades essentially since the founding of israel from military service are now no longer exempt and need to be conscripted by the army. it is a big social issue in israel but also political problem for mr netanyahu because his coalition relies on two ultraorthodox parties. there is a potential that, if this builds, if we haven't seen it yet but if thousands of students from the yeshivas are essentially forced to join the army against their will, that could lead to one or both of these political parties pulling out of the coalition which would bring it down and lead to elections which is something that mr netanyahu has been very much against although there is building pressure for that. internationally, neta nyahu's defence minister has continued with his visit in washington, that is trying to smooth waters with the biden administration, they have been very much shaken by comments that mr netanyahu has made essentially accusing the us of reducing the numbers of weapons that it was giving to israel so he has been there both to try and smooth that and also to talk about the next phase in gaza and potentially for next phase in the conflict between israel and hezbollah. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at a story making news in the uk: the emperor and empress ofjapan were welcomed by king charles and camilla with a state banquet at buckingham palace tuesday night, marking the start of a three—day visit. the day started with a ceremonial greeting on the horse guards parade. 0ur senior royal correspondent daniela relph has more. unusually, this is a state visit during an election campaign, and changes have been made to ensure political neutrality. this state visit was planned well before the election was called, having already been delayed due to the covid lockdown. there was no appetite for a further postponement. instead, all the big political moments have been stripped away, so no trip to downing street, and no formal meeting with the prime minister. prime minister rishi sunak and labour leader keir starmer both attended the state banquet at buckingham palace before their next debate wednesday night. the king delivered a speech speaking of the close friendship between the two countries. over the next few days, the emperor and empress will visit a number of sites around the uk, including 0xford, where both of them studied. you're live with bbc news. the united states' top doctor declared gun violence in america a public health crisis. us surgeon general vivek murthy�*s declaration is driven by the striking rise in gun deaths, which tripled between 2010 and 2012. dr murthy�*s advisory, published tuesday, concludes... the report calls for stricter gun storage laws, background checks and licenses for gun buyers and better access to mental health and addiction treatment. its most striking recommendation, though, is that the government should treat guns more like heavily—regulated products like cars, drugs and pesticides. the national rifle assocation said dr murthy�*s report was part of the biden administration's "war on law—abiding gun owners." but speaking to the bbc, dr murthy said his report is about depoliticising the issue. he sat down earlier with my colleague. this is the first time there has been a declaration of this kind. in declaring gun crime a public health emergency what does this actually do. health emergency what does this actually de— health emergency what does this actually tie-— actually do. gun violence is a ublic actually do. gun violence is a public health _ actually do. gun violence is a public health challenge - actually do. gun violence is a public health challenge in - actually do. gun violence is a | public health challenge in our country and a crisis, the importance of recognising it as such when we have identifying issues of public health can bring addresses to bear, we have done this with smoking, car —related debt and that approach involves collecting data, assessing solutions, implementing and scaling those solutions and with gun violence we have an opportunity to do that, the reason i am issuing this advisory as i want people to understand the full impact gun violence is having on the united states. what is the price from gun violence for lives lost, 50,000 a year, for everyone's life lost there are two people shot and injured, it will expense mental and physical health consequences, family members who grieve the loss of a loved ones, witnesses to these incidents in berlin to read and hear about gun violence every day in the papers and on the news. the reverberating effects have led to six out of ten americans now worrying about losing a loved one to gun violence, half of our kids say they are scared that a shooting taking place at their school so we have to keep those reverberations in mind and finally as a father what disturbs me most, is gun violence has become the leading cause of death among children and teens. that should for all of us increased the urgency with which we approach this issue and my hope is the advisory will help people see these effects more clearly and from this take action because hopefully we can all agree on the fact that our kids should be our priority, they should be safe and we should be doing every possible to prevent them from experiencing gun violence. gun violence has an overnight become the biggest cause of death for children and adolescents, as you mentioned why has nothing changed before now? , ., . , ., , why has nothing changed before now? , ., . , ., ., now? gun violence ten years ago was not the _ now? gun violence ten years ago was not the leading _ now? gun violence ten years ago was not the leading cause - now? gun violence ten years ago was not the leading cause of - was not the leading cause of death among kids, this has happened on our watch and we have seen over the last two decades the number of lives lost to gun violence has increased. 0ver lost to gun violence has increased. over the last couple of years we have seen some decreases in gun violence but it is still happening at a rate and level that is too high to tolerate. fora and level that is too high to tolerate. for a long time the issue has been polarising and politicised in the united states, but my hope is we can take it out of the realm of politics and put it into the realm of public health where it belongs. when i travel the country and talk to people across america, people of different backgrounds and beliefs, all ages, what i find is there is broad agreement on the ground that we have to do something about gun violence, nobody wants to worry about their children and their safety when they go to school, toby wants to think twice when they go to church or synagogue when they go to the grocery store warm all the life could be put at risk and many of the strategies i lay out in my advisory are commonsense strategies that are broadly agreed upon by the medical and public health community. this is a problem we can address we don't have to live like this and my hope is the advisory will help us see that path forward. will help us see that path forward-— will help us see that path forward. ,, ., ., , forward. still, nothing has been actioned _ forward. still, nothing has been actioned on - forward. still, nothing has been actioned on by - forward. still, nothing has- been actioned on by successive congress for many years. what do you say to those politicians and often it is republicans to stop legislation passing that could affect change. at, stop legislation passing that could affect change. a couple of thins could affect change. a couple of things i — could affect change. a couple of things i would _ could affect change. a couple of things i would recognise i could affect change. a couple i of things i would recognise one is while this feels like an intractable problem there are two places congress has taken action, which do give me some hope. that we may be able to find a day when we can all come together and take actions needed. one is five or six years ago congress put forward some modest funding for gun violence research, we need a lot more of that funding to be clear but that was an important step. two years ago congress passed a bipartisan secret committee �*s act the first piece of legislation in nearly 30 years from congress to address gun violence, these are important steps but they can't be our last step and again my hope is that we understand this is an issue affecting all our families, all our communities, thatis families, all our communities, that is impacting all the children, we will see that the time is now to really put aside the politics and depolarisation around the issue and recognise we an opportunity to use an approach that has worked in the past for other public health issues and finally address what has become notjust a problem for physical health but mental health and well being as well. are there concrete steps you can take without the need for legislation? at, can take without the need for legislation?— can take without the need for legislation? a couple of things to say about — legislation? a couple of things to say about that, _ legislation? a couple of things to say about that, there - legislation? a couple of things to say about that, there are i to say about that, there are steps here and strategies for congress to consider but also steps for state and local governments to consider. separate from government as well, i have laid out strategies that healthcare systems and community organisations can take on to help implement community violence intervention programmes, and for individuals we want them to know that if you own a gun and keeping it at home, storing that gun safely can go a long way to reducing the risk that a child or an aduu the risk that a child or an adult might end up intentionally or inadvertently injuring themselves or others, so these are steps for all of us to take. that is why i lay out many of the strategies and recognise as complex a problem gun violence as we have to recognise there is not a single solution that will address the whole issue we have to take simultaneous action on multiple fronts and that is why the series of steps i lay out the ones i believe can be help to us in reducing the toll of gun violence. us in reducing the toll of gun violence-— violence. we will leave it there us _ violence. we will leave it there us surgeon - violence. we will leave it| there us surgeon general violence. we will leave it - there us surgeon general thank you for speaking to us on bbc news. a prominent us congressman will lose his seat after being defeated in a primary election. he lost to george latimer local elected official, he is strongly favoured to win the november election, he lost despite support from bernie sanders and congresswoman casey cortez. a chinese spacecraft carrying the first samples from the far side of the moon has returned to it. it was on a nearly two months long unmanned mission. scientists believe it could answer the biggest questions about how planets are formed. broadcast live to the nation as it bobbed down—to—earth. ”the chang'e—6 finally touched down with its treasure, says the state media anchor. she means precious soil samples that could unlock the mysteries of the far side of the moon. it's a world first, and a clear source of chinese pride. this is the first time that we've got samples exactly from the lunarfar side of the moon we can't see in the sky. so from a technical point of view it's obviously quite complicated, so it represents a good technical accomplishment. but from a scientific point of view, the samples brought back will be quite unique. the chang'e—6 blasted off in early may in what was a technically demanding journey. a special satellite was needed to relay messages to the craft as it would not be visible from earth. then came the tricky part. landing on the moon's south pole. the surface here is different, more craters, a thicker crust. a mechanical arm and drill spent two days gathering samples. scientists are desperate to examine the soil and rock. president xi has poured huge resources into this space dream. china has harboured lunar ambitions for hundreds of years. many of these built on the 17th century. but it's only in recent years they are making real gains and entering a space race with the united states. but this is notjust about putting a man or woman on the moon. it is about staking a claim and controlling resources. washington is worried that china's space programme could have military uses. beijing insists its missions are peaceful. translation: china is willing to continue working _ with like—minded international partners to explore outer space as a common territory for all humanity. this craft�*s mission, named after a moon goddess, marks a new era in space exploration. one that, for now, china clearly dominates. laura bicker, bbc news, beijing. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. tuesday was a hot day for england and wales. it was the hottest day of the year so far in wales, but temperatures were even higher in england, in the south east, in the strong sunshine, 29 degrees in east sussex and 30 celsius in surrey. scotland, northern ireland were cooler on tuesday, thanks to more cloud and some rain in scotland really pegging the temperatures back here. not much rain as we head into wednesday morning. sunny skies for england and wales. some cloud will bubble up, bringing the threat of one or two showers over the welsh hills and the pennines, but it's in scotland that will see some showers developing as it brightens up here and there — some of the showers could be heavy and thundery. and in the afternoon, a bit of rain coming in from the west across northern ireland. some sunshine ahead of that should lift the temperatures a bit higher. the high temperatures, though, are going to be across england and wales. another hot day and, again, 30 degrees likely in the south east of england. things are going to change a bit, though, on thursday. this area of low pressure is coming in from the atlantic, pushing ahead of it, this weather front. as that moves its way eastwards, it'll be followed by atlantic air, cooler and fresher air that will push away all that heat and humidity into the near continent. now, let me show you that weather front, because this is it. it really is just a narrow band of cloud, little or no rain on it. ahead of it, some sunshine following it, some sunshine, but close to the low, some stronger winds bringing showers or longer spells of rain into scotland, northern ireland, one or two showers crossing the irish sea. it is going to be cooler everywhere on thursday. plenty of sunshine, i think, for england and wales, and for a good part of the day, still very warm across eastern parts of england. but with that weather front out of the way as we head into friday, we still have the low pressure running to the north of scotland and still some quite brisk winds for the time of year in scotland — some outbreaks of rain probably in the north of the country. a few showers elsewhere, the odd shower maybe for northern ireland, moving into the north west of england. further south, it's likely to be dry, and we'll see some sunshine coming through from time—to—time. temperatures are still going to be around 17 degrees in scotland and northern ireland and back down to 23 celsius at best in the south east of england. now, heading into the weekend, we're still in that slightly cooler, fresher air. many places will be dry with some sunshine, the best of it probably across southern parts of england. and this is where we'll see the highest of the temperatures. voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. it is hard to overstate the levels of turmoil and uncertainty in french politics right now. thanks to president macron�*s early dissolution of the national assembly, france faces two rounds of voting in the next two weeks, after which parliamentary power could be in the hands of marine le pen's far—right national rally party. what would that mean for france, for europe? well, my guest is national rally member of the european parliament, fabrice leggeri. is the stability of france at stake? fabrice leggeri in paris, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for the invitation.