she live from washington, this is bbc news. welcome to viewers on pbs in america. a 21—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of being behind the worst leak of secret us intelligence documents in years. today the justice department arrested jack douglas teixeira in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorised removal, retention and transmission of classified national defence information. lawmakers in florida back a six—week abortion ban. the white house calls it "extreme and dangerous." and brazil's president lula is in china, looking to smooth relations with his country's biggest trading partner.

hello. i'm sumi somaskanda. the fbi has arrested the suspected leaker of classified pentagon documents. his name is jack teixeira, a 21—year—old member of the intelligence wing of the massachsetts air national guard. agents swooped in to arrest teixeira at a property in north dighton, massachusetts. he oversaw a private online group named thug shaker central, where 20—30 people, mostly young and men teenagers, came together over a shared interest in god, video games and guns. his online friends include individuals in ukraine and russia. one of the group spoke anonymously to the washington post. the group really became close during the pandemic when we were all locked down together. and every single day we would watch movies, play games, do activities together, we'd stream our houses and mess around, dance and have fun. we didn't realise the sheer, just immense nature of these lea ks until a bit later.

i spoke to 06 about two days ago before he gave his final goodbye to us. he signed off saying that he did not want to be associated with any of us to bring anything bad to him. at least 50 secret files were published on social media. they included sensitive information regarding the war in ukraine, as well as on china and america's allies. the pentagon called this leak of classified information a "deliberate criminal act." the department is taking the issue of this unauthorised disclosure very seriously. we continue to work around the clock, along with the inner agency and the intelligence community, to better understand the scope, scale, and impact of these leaks. jack teixeira, the young man at the centre of this, now faces charges under the espionage act. he joined the force in 2019

and was enlisted in the 102nd intelligence wing of the massachusetts air national guard, which is a reserve of the us air force. promoted lastjuly to airman first class, a relativelyjunior position, he was based at otis air national guard base in western cape cod. mr teixeira was known as the undisputed leader of an invitation—only discord chatroom created in 2020. before he began sharing photos of the documents, he previously wrote up versions of the sensitive information and shared it to the chatroom. one teenager told the new york times: "this guy "was a christian, anti—war, just wanted to inform some "of his friends about what's going on." earlier i spoke to bradley moss, a national security lawyer. first of all, take us through what would be happening right now. would us intelligence officials be interviewing, interrogating teixeira? i'm sure they would love to be able to do so, if i was his criminal defence lawyer the last thing i would do would have him

provide any information like that. he was just arrested, he's going to be indicted, is going to be arranged, there is going to be a discussion about whether or not he can be released on bail. i suspect he will not remain in custody. this is all going to come out into what is the nature of what he leads, how did he get it out, how did he extract it from any secure facility, and is there a defence he has that he wants to bring up? is he going to negotiate a plea deal? he is young kid, no other criminal history we know of, it appears this amounts to stupidity not like a deliberate leaker like manning or snowden, so there might be some mitigating circumstances there where he might get some consideration in sentencing. that will ultimately be up to him. he might want to take it to trial. if he does though, i think he loses. tell us more about what it could be charged with and what is involved with those charges. sure.

he is probably going to be judged under the espionage act, it sounds like spying, it's not. most of it has nothing to do with spying. it has to do with the unauthorised removal and dissemination of national defence information. in this case classified information, the details of the war in ukraine, intelligence estimates, things along those lines. that is what they will charge him with. they can also, if they want throw in the kitchen sink, there is removal of government documentation, there might be an obstruction provision in there, depending on evidence taken to conceal it, but the espionage act is a truly serious liability for him. you talk about his possible defence. what if he hadn't actually intended to cause harm? does that change at all the charges and the approach? it is not change his criminal liability. this is the public interest or inadvertent offence that people such as edward snowden always wanted to raise. it is irrelevant from the consideration of are you liable, did you commit the offence? it is a consideration possibly at sentencing in terms

of a mitigating factor. unlike, say, an edward snowden this individual does not appear to have intended this to be disseminated outside the discord channel, it doesn't change whether he is criminally liable but it is a consideration that could mitigate a criminal sentence which could be tens upon tens of years depending on the number of documents ultimately he leaked. i want to ask one more question about the motivation here. in the washington post investigation, one of the suspect�*s acquaintances is quoted as saying "i would "definitely not call him a whistleblower, i would not "call 0g a whistleblower in the slightest." to understand this correctly, if he were to say he was a whistleblower this would not change the situation for him? there is no whistleblower defence in this context. to be clear, the whistleblower laws as set up in the united states requires you to go through a very specific process to authorised individuals to bring forward your concern about potential violations

of law. it does not allow you to take classified documents out of a secure space, put it on a discord channel or leak it to the media and claim a public interest defence, that is not how the laws work here. so he can claim now he is a whistleblower, it would mean nothing for purposes of whether or not he is criminally liable. it might, at most, and i don't see any evidence as yet, at most an issue for sentencing. but i don't see him as a whistleblower, he was just a dumb kid showing off to his friends. brad, you talk about other uses of the espionage act. how does this compare, for example, to the wikileaks source, chelsea manning, who was convicted for violating parts of the espionage act? so there will be some of the same provisions because it was an intentional removal of the classified information and dissemination to unauthorised parties, so some of the same provisions will come into play there but there are other things that won't necessarily be an issue. with chelsea manning, remember that she was

prosecuted in the military system, right now this appears to be going through the civilian system, but with chelsea manning they also raised a separate charge with respect to aiding the enemy. i don't see that happening here, partially because in this case, like chelsea manning or say edward snowden, it was deliberate that they wanted to disseminate this to the public writ large, to the entire world, and they wanted to do it through the media. with this individual he was just showing off in a discord chat. it was still an intentional and deliberate leak, but it was not in the same context based of the facts we know right now. i don't see some of those judges being considered. there were a lot of other people in that chat, so what is the liability for the people in that chat who might have actually shared those images further? so by and large none of them are going to face any real problems unless they themselves held security clearances with the us government. but if they were just ordinary, average teenagers, goofing off on a chat and gaming, as it sounds like they were doing during the pandemic, the government could always bring espionage act charges against them,

but they could bring that against any of us who are reading the washington post and the new york times today because it is discussing classified details of what was leaked out. the government generally does not do that, they do not have the resources to do that, nor would it be in the public interest, they are up to the person who was the leaker, in this case mr teixeira. all right, very interesting insights. baddely moss, national security lawyer, thank you forjoining us on the bbc. now to abortion in america. florida has passed a bill that would ban abortions after six weeks, making it one of the most restrictive states in the country. there are exceptions for victims of rape, incest, and human trafficking. they can obtain an abortion up to 15 weeks into a pregnancy, but only if the woman provides a restraining order, police report, medical record, or other evidence. the bill heads to republican governor ron desantis�*s desk. desantis, who is expected to run in the 2024 presidential

election, has indicated his support, making it likely the bill will be signed into law. it's the latest move from republican—led states to restrict abortion access in the wake of the supreme court's overturning of roe v wade last year. the white house says the florida ban, quote, "flies in the face of fundamental freedoms and is out "of step with the views of the vast majority "of the people of florida." also today, the biden administration is taking steps to push a texas abortion pill case to the supreme court. our correspondent, jessica parker, has more. there has been a lot of legal wrangling going on, but according to the latest ruling, access to mifepristone could be restricted and essentially rolled back to the situation we had in 2016 where it can't be administered beyond seven weeks of pregnancy, rather than ten, as things stand now, in states where abortion is legal, and as well you couldn't get mifepristone delivered by mail. but the biden administration appealing these changes, trying to stop them happening. so the legal battle goes on. for anti—abortion activists, though, they welcome the idea

of further restrictions. they say it will be a win for women and girls. however, i have been speaking to clinics that administer abortion today and they are deeply concerned, they say they are getting calls from women who are panicking, trying to figure out what is happening, particularly women who maybe are travelling quite far from where abortion is banned, they are saying "should i still get "on my flight? "should i still make the long carjourney "for my appointment?" so a lot of patient reassurance is having to go on. now, while this is a divisive issue, something everybody agrees on is that this is now heading for the supreme court. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. is little over three weeks, this whole area will be transformed into liverpool's eurovision village. it begins on friday 5 may and the opening

act, who else but the current eurovision champions, kalush orchestra. the next day of course is the kings coronation and that will be shown live on big screens. the full bbc broadcast of buttered bread in london shown right here in liverpool for everybody to come and enjoy. after that there will be full performances from midday throughout the week, leading up to the revision final, and most importantly, the first eight days of the events of the revision village will be free. tickets for that grand final party began to go on sale from midday tomorrow. you're live with bbc news. to china, where brazil's president lula da silva has arrived for an official visit aimed at bolstering relations between the two nations. here he is arriving in shanghai on wednesday, where he was welcomed

by chinese officials and former brazilian president dilma roussef. later, he met with the chief of the chinese communist party, chenjining. the two—day visit is also expected to include a meeting with chinese president xijinping. the two countries share deep economic ties. china is brazil's top trading partner, involved in 30% of all brazilian imports and exports. china serves as a major market for brazilian products, including soybeans, iron and oil. china also invests more in brazil than any other country in latin america. brazil's president, commonly known as lula, is expected to sign at least 20 deals with china during the trip. live now to our asia reporter joao da silva in singapore, whose been following lula's vist to china. lula will be meeting with chinese president xi jinping shortly. can you tell us what to expect in this meeting? it is hard to say at this stage. we know the exact agenda

but two topics are expected to figure prominently on the agenda. one of them is trade and investment. as you mentioned, the brazilian government has said that they want to sign at least 20 deals of trade and investment. they are seeking to really boost the economic relation with china. president lula da silva he returned to power months ago knows he needs brazil's largest trading partner if he is deliver on promises to fight poverty and boost brazil's stagnant economy. china is interested in consolidating trade ties. beijing faces growing tensions with united states, its largest trading partner, and looks to boost its company's presents another compa ny�*s presents another market. company's presents another market. and brazil being latin america's largest economy makes an obvious choice. the other issue that could make it onto the talks between wolumla and xi is the war in ukraine with

president lula looking to play the role of mediator in that conflict. it ties in with his objective to really brazil on the international stage once again. so you've been closely watching lula during this trip. we were opt in shanghai. has he accomplished what he said to do? to accomplished what he said to do? ., do? to determine whether the tri is do? to determine whether the trip is successful, _ do? to determine whether the trip is successful, we - do? to determine whether the trip is successful, we really - trip is successful, we really have to wait and see what comes out of this meeting with xi jinping in terms of bilateral agreements, but in terms of optics we could say that president lula da silva's presence in china is in itself a bit of a success. he is a charismatic leader who is well known around the world, he has just staged what is undeniably a spectacular political comeback story. in a matter of months he returned to power and visited the us and now china. he is clearly working to place brazil at the centre of world affairs by pursuing an

independent foreign policy, and it's also certainly a success so far from china's it's also certainly a success so farfrom china's perspective is president lula ausmat visiting on the trip so far seems pretty aligned with beijing's goal of challenging what it sees as a us dominance in world affairs. fill" what it sees as a us dominance in world affairs.— in world affairs. our reporter, joao da silva, _ in world affairs. our reporter, joao da silva, in _ in world affairs. our reporter, joao da silva, in singapore. . for more on this, moments ago we spoke with margaret myers who serves as director of the asia and latin america programme at inter—american dialogue, and is a former department of defence analyst. good to have you on the show. how important you think the trip is for lula? it how important you think the trip is for lula?— trip is for lula? it is an important _ trip is for lula? it is an important trip - trip is for lula? it is an important trip for - trip is for lula? it is an important trip for him | trip is for lula? it is an l important trip for him in trip is for lula? it is an - important trip for him in part because it is an effort to really re—establish a very strong bilateral partnership with china which suffered somewhat under the previous bolsonaro administration. it is also important trip for lula because he has been regarded for many years now and certainly during his previous

presidency as one of the president of the latin american region with the strongest overall personal ties to leadership in china. it was a very remarkable relationship wolumla ford with former president hujintao wolumla ford with former president hu jintao many years ago and anyways it's a homecoming for lula and will be envisaged as such. justice was mentioned previously, this is critically important in terms of reinforcing a lot of the trade and investment ties that have been established and have underpinned the relation, relationship now for about two decades. but also seeking your investments in sectors that brazil deems critical to its own economic growth. fiur own economic growth. our correspondent _ own economic growth. our correspondent mentioned that brazilian commentators perceive the trip as signalling other support for realignment towards an international order that's not headed by the united states. , ., , ., ., , states. do you see it that way? it has been _ states. do you see it that way? it has been very _ states. do you see it that way? it has been very much - states. do you see it that way? | it has been very much described that way, notjust now but when

the platform was originally developed in part by lula, several years ago. this has been a vision that lula has litigated for many years and indeed will reiterate again and reinforced during this meeting, i imagine with xi jinping reinforced during this meeting, i imagine with xijinping and throughout the trip there is an interest in establishing a system of global economic governance that puts the interests of the global south front and centre, and a lula and xi and many others and vision notjust the bricks and other initiatives as a critical and effective means by which to achieve these objectives. just to drill down to that? do you think lula prefers that is apartment to the us? it you think lula prefers that is apartment to the us?- apartment to the us? it was very interesting _ apartment to the us? it was very interesting that - apartment to the us? it was very interesting that lula . very interesting that lula chose to visit the us and have this meeting with biden first.

and i think that does indicate the extent to which brazil will be balancing its important partnerships. but certainly, in economic terms, at this particularjuncture, china factors very prominently. as the top trade partner and as was mentioned, a critical investor but especially in sectors where many other investors are not even present. so it's going to be, the extent of the delegation heading to beijing and in beijing right now, the many, many people who have accompanied lula is indicative, i think, have accompanied lula is indicative, ithink, of have accompanied lula is indicative, i think, of the importance of this particular relationship but where lula has emphasised previously and now it is interest in making brazil. as was the trip to the us. ., ., ., .,,

brazil. as was the trip to the us. part of that as well as the discussion. — us. part of that as well as the discussion, one _ us. part of that as well as the discussion, one of _ us. part of that as well as the discussion, one of the - us. part of that as well as the discussion, one of the topics | discussion, one of the topics of discussion is going to be the war in ukraine and brazil is proposing working together with china on bringing peace to ukraine. how seriously do you take these proposals coming from brazil? it’s take these proposals coming from brazil?— from brazil? it's absolutely art of from brazil? it's absolutely part of this _ from brazil? it's absolutely part of this broader - from brazil? it's absolutely| part of this broader agenda, this effort to envision brazil and ensure brazil's place is a critical global actor, notjust in economic terms but in this case, an international arbiter of peace in the ukraine russia conflict but potentially more broadly. it's hard to imagine what role brazil could reasonably play and what sort of leverages would have over either china and china's alliance with russia or over russia directly to, in ——to affect any sort of decision—making or viewpoints that would alter considerably

the equation in that particular conflict but this appears to be a very big part of the agenda and something that lula has mentioned not during this trip, but as in previous ones as well. a ., but as in previous ones as well. a, . ., , but as in previous ones as well. . ., , , ., well. margaret, last question. how do you — well. margaret, last question. how do you think _ well. margaret, last question. how do you think this - well. margaret, last question. how do you think this trip - how do you think this trip plays for lula back home in brazil? ., ~' ., plays for lula back home in brazil? ., ~ ., �* , brazil? you know, it's in the interest of— brazil? you know, it's in the interest of a _ brazil? you know, it's in the interest of a lot _ brazil? you know, it's in the interest of a lot of _ interest of a lot of industries, sectors of industry representatives, the private sector in general, to continue to forge very strong ties with china. this is something of interest at the national level but also the subnational level so i think in economic terms, this is broadly supported. i think many are wondering whether there will be something sad about the environment and potential cooperation, concerning the green revolution, or energy transition or any of these issues. it's been of tremendous

end is expect interest to both sides. xijinping talks about this considerably as does lula so this is something that will be looked favourably upon by civil society and a wide range of other actors. north korea has described its latest weapons test is a major step in its ability to carry out nuclear strikes. john young said that the first time it had successfully launched an intercontinental ballistic advice that used solid feel. they can be launched with little warning. minneapolis has agreed to play nearly $9 million to settle lawsuits brought by both to lack residence against derek chauvin. they said he pressed his knee into their necks, the same tactic that killed george floyd three years later. minneapolis mayorjacob frey apologised to all the victims.

president biden declared �*i'm at home' — as he made an historic address to the irish parliament. it came on the third full day of his visit to northern ireland and the republic. our north america editor sarah smith reports. applause. president biden says repeatedly that he feels truly at home in ireland. to be invited to address the irish parliament, well, this isjoe biden was my idea of a really good time. well, mom... laughter. you said it would happen. he talked of the history, values and ideals that ireland shares with america, and of how international cooperation can support peace in northern ireland. he talked of the history, values and ideals that ireland shares with america, and of how international cooperation can support peace in northern ireland. on that, he seems to think the uk could do more. i think that the united kingdom should be working closer

with ireland in this endeavour. political violence must never again be allowed to take hold in this island. applause. the assembled politicians did hear rishi sunak say yesterday he is ready to work with his irish partners is to try to get devolved he is ready to work with his irish partners to try to get devolved government up and running again in northern ireland as soon as possible. president biden is not here in ireland to achieve any in northern ireland as soon as possible. president biden is not here in ireland to achieve any kind of diplomatic breakthrough or to try and solve the deadlock in northern ireland politics. he largely seems to be here to enjoy himself. his team that have come with him are just desperately hoping that he can do that without putting his foot in it. visiting the irish president at dublin's white house, mr biden says he doesn't ever want to leave, and wrote a similar sentiment in the visitors' book. as the irish saying goes, your feet will bring you where your heart is. other american presidents have come here to highlight their irish ancestry. president biden's tree will grow alongside others planted by presidents obama, clinton, reagan, evenjohn f kennedy. what a wonderful reception he's getting. he visited dublin 60 years ago, and claimed that trip was the best four

days of his life. with the irish taoiseach, leo varadkar, mr biden talked about what they could do together. if it wasn't for america and europe working together, i don't know what kind of world we live in, so we really do appreciate your leadership and your personal leadership. it feels so good to be able to have this emerging stronger and stronger relationship between the united states and ireland. with full fanfare, president biden is welcomed as the guest of honour at a banquet dinner in dublin castle, where he talked about his proudly irish american mother, and how she believed he would one day make it here. sarah smith, bbc news, dublin. just before we go, some breaking news. the governor of amenoni nasilasila ron desantis assigned the amenoni nasilasila abortion law. he said, i signed the heart reproduction act and devotes resources to help young

mothers and families. again, this is a story we reported earlier, amenoni nasilasila passing a bill that would ban abortions after six weeks. hello again. thursday brought us a day of sunshine and showers, many of the showers came from these big cumulonimbus clouds looming over the skyline of hastings. not too far away in kent we had a heavy downpour that brought some hail, two centimetres of hail was reported and temperatures came down to about one celsius as well so a sudden drop in temperatures as that storm went in temperatures as that storm went through. at the moment we have still got a few showers left over across scotland but otherwise some clear spells around, bit of rain starting to edge back into south—west england, southern parts of wales. a chilly old start to the day with temperatures 1—3 degrees. this area of low pressure moves rain across southern wales, southern areas of england and dives into northern france.

i think away from that for scotland and northern ireland there is another day of sunshine and showers, some of them slow—moving as well. as that low pressure works into france it changes the wind flow and we get this zone of convergence where the winds bash together, a big line of thunderstorms form. maybe we will get an odd funnel cloud even from that kind of area. eyes to the skies. where the sunshine comes out even though temperatures will be below average everywhere, probably won't feel too bad but where cloudy, ten, 11 degrees, that is not going to feel too great but on into the weekend we go and the prospect is the weather is going to turn drier, sunnier and a good deal warmer as pressure rises and we start to get these milder southerly winds blowing their way across the country both saturday and into sunday as well. weatherwise not a bad start to the weekend, most of us will see some spells of sunshine, still a few showers left over for eastern areas

of england and there is the threat of it turning a bit cloudier for northern ireland into the afternoon, maybe with an odd patch of light rain in the extreme west. it's starting to get warmer though and 15 degrees given the light winds for glasgow and london, it should feel pleasant in the sunshine you will have. a lot of dry and reasonably sunny weather i think for most of us on sunday. that said, probably a bit more in the way of cloud across north—western areas with an odd spot of light rain, temperatures continuing to climb. 15 in liverpool and manchester, 17 in london and that should feel pleasantly warm. high pressure hangs around next week so a lot of dry weather to come with some warm april spells of sunshine but fairly brisk winds developing in the south—east towards the middle part of the week.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories at the top of the lr, straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi, here in florida, where my guest is 98—year—old ben ferencz. he is the last surviving prosecutor at the nuremberg nazi trials. he also helped liberate the death camps of europe while serving in the us army. so does he believe that the nuremberg trials have made