we've come back to see this star pupil, who is also a stand in teacher at his school. are you the best teacher there? that's a yes. ahmed's been blind from birth along with four of his siblings, and he's growing up near a front line in a city under siege. it's very scary, he tells me. we're afraid of gunshots. when fighting starts, we can't go to the park or the valley or anywhere. when was the last time you heard fighting and explosions? last night, he says. it's quiet now, but there's danger in the hills where houthi snipers are most active after dark. ahmed's father, abdul, says they're about 600 meters in front of us. a gunshot away, he tells me. for ahmed school has always been a refuge of sorts. this was our first glimpse of him injanuary 2021, leading morning assembly at al wahda primary. it was bombed by the saudi led coalition when it was occupied by houthi forces. the classrooms exposed to the sun and the rain. young minds getting an education in war. ahmed was leading the class atjust nine years old, and he gave us his wish list. we want a new school. chairs, doors, windows, black boards. lights and batteries. so this is the new school. and viewers responded. a yemeni donorfunded a new block and a british charity refurbished classrooms. saudi arabia, after years of bombing yemen, is building another school nearby. ahmed gives the changes top marks, and he has plenty of big plans. i want to be a teacher, pilot, engineer, driver or a doctor. do you think you'll be able to do all these things? sure, i'll do everything and i'll marry a beautiful city girl and she'll make me biscuits. the girls here in the village don't know how to make good biscuits. the city girls know how to make delicious biscuits so good you lick yourfingers. back at the river, ahmed has a few moments of fun. but childhood in yemen is short. he is full of hope, full of promise, and he has already overcome so much. but he is still a child of war. alongside trenches and artillery, ukraine's war has been one of drones and hackers, and that's led ukraine's alongside trenches and artillery, ukraine's war has been one of drones and hackers, and that's led ukraine's security service to move its teams to the front lines. here, they direct a kamikaze drone to strike a camera being used to track ukrainian troop movements. in an exclusive interview, the man in charge of cyber security and technology for the security service reveals they also hack into russian cameras to collect intelligence. using artificial intelligence we penetrate their surveillance cameras on the occupied territories and we understand the movement of the troops, this information being analysed, and we understand which type of military and weapons they are about to use on what direction. the security service also uses artificial intelligence to track down those responsible for war crimes like here in russia. we use artificial intelligence as well. facial recognition, yes. so we get the information from cameras, from pictures, and then we understand who was exactly guilty in different war crimes conducted by russian troops, who was the possible spotter, who was the possible traitor? so this and this is also a usage of artificial intelligence. and we have thousands of people that we've found exactly who they were. technology has been at the heart of this conflict from the start in the opening days of the war russian missiles hit kiev�*s main tv tower. last year, the russians attacked this tower. they were trying to deprive ukrainians of access to truthful information and destroy the infrastructure. the missile attack was accompanied by a cyber attack on the same facility. since then, as victor zohra, the man in charge of cyber defense, shows me the pace of cyber attacks has been relentless. so these are serious incidents here. but it's every day something's happening. you don't have any days off. we don't have days off. it's often said that wars spur on innovation, and this conflict has been no exception. what we've seen here in ukraine is an incredible pace by which new technologies have been adopted. nowhere has the pace of innovation been clearer than drones in a location we've been asked to keep secret. 0perators are taught not so much how to fly the drones as how to stay alive themselves. risks are increasing as they move closer to the fighting. right now, the distance is getting shorter and shorter and shorter because of enemies jamming systems. hackers and drone operators are now on the front lines with both sides knowing that technology could give them a vital edge in a hard fought war. injapan, home to the world's second biggest music market, one company has dominated for decades. johnny and associates is the country's biggest j—pop star maker. but for years, rumors of sexual abuse have surrounded the founder of the all male talent agency, the late johnny kitagawa. now a sign of respect and remorse. in a hugely significant moment. before stepping down as ceo juli fukushima has for the first time admitted that abuse of young boys had taken place in her uncle's organisation. both the agency itself and myself as a person recognized that sex abuse byjohnny kitagawa took place. i apologize to his victims from the bottom of my heart. the agency had promised to compensate the victims, some of whom had been watching. i believe that an agency that retains johnny's name should not exist. she acknowledged and sincerely apologised for what happened. but it's not like the emotional scars are gone. it is very difficult to overstate the clout, the power, the influence that johnny kitagawa held over japan's entertainment industry. if you are a young japanese teenager who wanted to become a pop star, who wanted to break through his agency was your gateway. pressure grew on the agency when the allegations resurfaced earlier this year in a bbc documentary where one of the victims who wanted to remain anonymous told our colleague mobeen azhar that their career would have been harmed if they did not comply with kitagawa sexual demands. johnny told me, go and have a bath. johnny filled up the bath. i thought, isn't he kind? but then he reached for my trousers. later, several boys told me, you have to put up with it or you won't succeed. more people came forward with their stories after the documentary, including j—pop star kawan 0kamoto, who said he was abused by kitagawa when he was 15. last week, an independent investigation found that the entertainment mogul had abused hundreds of boys repeatedly over six decades and that the family's management of the firm had allowed the assault to continue. it's not clear yet how the scandal will changejapan�*s entertainment industry with an empire and a brand that has been synonymous with the country's pop culture so publicly disgraced. there's no other option for many children here but to grow up fast. hassan has been working for two years, helping sell cigarettes. he comes here after school. i'm working here to get some money and because it's better than being in the street. i asked him if he prefers school or work. school. hassan�*s father sells vegetables for a living. but prices have risen so fast that these are now a luxury for many people in lebanon. the global cost of living crisis has hit a country already suffering an economic meltdown and a currency collapse. according to the un, nine out of ten families can't afford the basics any more. if i could afford it of course, i would prefer him to study. working isn't the best thing for him, but it brings some money. together they help make sure the whole family has what they need. and growing numbers of children are having to do the same. lebanon's poor are getting poorer. ella's family never had much, but until three years ago, she used to enjoy school. then even that became a luxury. she dropped out to start cleaning other people's houses. she's 14 now. two of her sisters were married at the age ofjust 13. i was in school, but i had to leave it because i could not afford to go. when i was at school, i used to dream of becoming a teacher. and now? i stopped dreaming. i couldn't continue my school year. nine year old kareem and six—year—old adam are getting ready for school. their 14—year—old brother is already at work at a supermarket. their mother has two jobs and is looking for a third. a once decent salary is now worth very little. a middle class people have fallen into poverty. she works at their school in the kitchen. it's part of a project funded by the world food programme, employing mothers of schoolchildren, giving them some income with the aim of keeping their children in school and them and their classmates properly fed. they feel hungry. they ask for sandwiches for the parents. so many students ask us for, can i have this tomato for my mum? they knock on the door of the kitchen every day. tens of students, not one or two. and it didn't used to be like this? no, i never seen that in lebanon before. the un children's fund says one in ten families in lebanon don't send their children to school any more because they can't afford to. it's a sensitive issue which brings embarrassment, even shame. most of the street sellers here are syrian refugees. but more and more lebanese children are nowjoining them in homes up and down this country. families have had to sell belongings as well as send their children to work. mohammed, who's 15, provides for both his little sisters and for the whole family. their father can't work after he injured himself, falling from a ladder. mohammed's been out of school since he was 11, and there's no time any more to see his friends. i would like to go to school, of course, but in this situation, who will think of going to school? we need to provide for our family. i asked him how that felt. i'm suffocating. suffocating. i have to put up with it? some people curse me when they pass and tell me not to get any closer. some people humiliate us. he's out here day in and day out all hours. one of so many forced to fend both for themselves and their families. their childhood a stressful daily grind. injune, an unusual group of people gathered in the kremlin. they were russia's pro—war social media influencers. and president vladimir putin wanted to see them. they were allowed to ask questions. but putin also had a favour to ask. who are these people? and why did putin asked for help? war influencers have been part of russia's propaganda ecosystem for some time. but after the invasion of ukraine, their popularity skyrocketed, with some of their follower counts growing several times in a matter of weeks. while putin relied heavily on television to spread propaganda to an older generation, influencers carve their way through telegram, the most popular social media platform for young people in russia, and one of the few platforms to survive a ban in the country since the start of the war. we reviewed hundreds of the influencers�* videos and posts to understand how they became so powerful and encourage young russians to support the war that killed thousands and turned millions into refugees. why are they so popular? a world away from the traditional propaganda and tv shows they are bold, brash and funny and use hate speech to gain followers. they make the war relatable and binge worthy. posting constant updates from the front line. over in russia, they're called z blockers. z is the symbol adopted by those who support the war. one of the most popular z bloggers is simon, known as war gonzo with more than a million followers. anna is another. she writes poetry about the war. one of her most popular efforts is called all wagner fighters go to heaven. they embed with the russian army and have exclusive access to the front line. they tell the truth that the military wants to hide, which makes them a unique source of information from the russian trenches. even the western media quote them. military bloggers were furious. they accused the army of failing to hide its troops. russian war bloggers with hundreds of thousands of followers on a social media have been publishing reports from ukraine. but the z bloggers also spread disinformation to millions of russians. they shared this dash cam video with their followers on telegram. it's dated 24th of march 2023. the war influencers said it was a perfect example of how ukraine treats civilians. it apparently shows a civilian vehicle being cut off by a ukrainian military suv on a country road. two gunmen in ukrainian uniform get out of the car. one of them appears to question a woman who was in the car with a small child. they call her a pig for speaking russian and fire the gun next to the car. but look at these trees. we can see them on a satellite image. and these electricity towers. and this intersection. this footage can be geolocated to the district , a suburb of donetsk. it's in the donbas region, an area of ukraine occupied by russia since 2014. it is impossible for the uniformed ukrainian soldiers to operate openly in this occupied region. also, the use of dashcams is illegal in ukraine. it was banned after the russian invasion to keep the troop movement secret. the cross from the vehicle is different from the one used by ukraine's armed forces. together, all these elements indicate that the video was staged. it is one of many fakes spread by z bloggers. among those who share this false video was alexander with more than 600,000 followers on his telegram channel. he is one of the most popular war influencers. in a rare interview with western media, he told the bbc how he makes the war seem close to home to his followers. but for his talk of ordinary people, he also has friends in high places. z bloggers are often invited to clubs, colleges, museums, libraries and book shops across russia. young people from moscow to vladivostok show up to see them. we found evidence of dozens of these talks given since the war started. some fans buy t shirts with logos of the channels. others say they've enlisted in the army because of the bloggers�* posts. this man says he did so after he watched a lot of reports by simon, aka war gonzo. despite international condemnation of russian aggression simon and others like him believe the government is not being violent enough. criticism of government tactics is punished very swiftly in russia, but the z bloggers seem to get away with it. they say the generals are corrupt and incompetent and their strategy is timid and outdated. they also publish complaints from the mobilised who feel betrayed by the officers. hundreds of people have been prosecuted for discrediting the army in russia, but for war influencers, the rules are different, katerina shulman, a leading russian political scientist, told the bbc they receive special treatment. the only dissenting voices which are allowed, or at least unpunished, are the pro—war voices. so you cannot criticise the president or the military for waging the war or for killing people. but you can criticise them for not killing enough people and not waging the war in an effective manner. to pay for their more brutal war bloggers ask for funds from their fans in telegram posts. they say it's to deliver better equipment to the army and they appear to be succeeding. alexander kotz claimed he raised more than £250,000 for an artillery unit. but it's not all totally altruistic. they also make a tidy profit for themselves. bloggers sell ads for anything from cryptocurrency to fashion to their large audiences. to find out how much they earn, we pose as hotel owners interested in posting ads on major war influencer telegram channels. we were told it would cost us from £443 to over 1500 pounds for a single post. top z bloggers post at least one ad per day, making their possible income much higher than the country's average monthly wage of £550. some of them are in the pay of the ministry of defence. some were and i suppose continue to be in the pay of wagner group. putin's endorsement and the z bloggers access to russia's youth means politicians are keen to appear as guests on their telegram channels, hoping to bolster their recognition with a younger crowd. look at these clips. mps are dancing with artillery shells and playing ping pong with the bloggers. their efforts and loyalty have been rewarded by putin, who gave them medals and official positions. but their prominence has also made them targets. this is vlad, one of the most vocal bloggers. he was at a meeting with fans in st petersburg when he was killed by a bomb. the kremlin blamed the killing on kyiv, but the ukrainian government denied involvement. so what happens next? these influencers know their future is closely linked to the war. spreading propaganda gives them fame and money. and while the world pushes to halt russia's invasion, z bloggers insist the war must go on. hello. for at least part of wednesday, we can expect a window of fine weather overhead. if we take a look at the satellite picture. we can see the rain—bearing clouds that affected parts of england and wales during tuesday. behind me, there is another weather system that will be working into the north—west later on wednesday. but in between, a slice of clear skies, quite a cool, in fact, chilly start for some on wednesday morning, but some spells of sunshine. starting the day then across the highlands, very close to freezing with a touch of frost in places. compare that with 16—17 around some coasts of eastern and south—eastern england, where we start the day with a bit more clouds, still some humid air in place, but it will turn fresher and brighter here as the day wears on. a big slice of sunshine, but then by lunchtime we'll see rain splashing into northern ireland and then that will get into western scotland by the middle of the afternoon with a strengthening wind. temperatures north to south, 14—21 degrees. and then as we head through wednesday evening, we'll see very wet weather for northern ireland, western scotland. that rain overnight getting down into parts of northern england, eventually parts of wales turning very windy in the north—west of scotland with gales for a time. it is going to be a mild start to thursday, certainly much milder in the highlands, but generally 11—14 degrees for thursday. this area of low pressure to the north—west of scotland bringing some very strong winds. this dangling weather front bringing a band of cloud and rain. that front�*s to start off sitting across parts of mid—wales and into the midlands. it may well be that the rain peps up again as we head into the afternoon. to the south of that, some sunshine and some warmth. returning to the north of our weatherfront, a mix of sunny spells and showers. and then for friday, it looks as if our weather front will start to move northwards again. so some heavy and persistent rain for parts of northern ireland and perhaps most likely southern and central parts of scotland. feeling pretty disappointing in glasgow and edinburgh underneath that rain. further south with some sunshine, temperatures up to 25 degrees. and then as we head into the weekend, well,it looks like low pressure will try to push up from the south and that will bring showers or longer spells of rain in our direction. there could be some pretty intense downpours, maybe some thunderstorms and turning a little warmer and a little more humid. live from washington. this is bbc news. republicans in the us congress take aim atjoe biden, saying they'll open a formal impeachment inquiry into the president. the death toll is rising in libya after massive flooding reportedly wiped out entire neighbourhoods. and a landmark trial begins here in washington, as google is accused of abusing its power to create a monopoly. the tech giant denies it. hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome. we start the programme here in washington, where the us house speaker has ordered an impeachment inquiry into president biden. kevin mccarthy claims there are "serious and credible" allegations of corruption. the white house says the probe is "extreme politics at its worst". mccarthy said he would task three committees with carrying out the inquiry into the president and his family. he has been investigating the president for months and has still found no concrete evidence of misconduct. at the centre of this inquiry is president biden�*s son, hunter biden, who is currently under federal investigation

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