| | | | | | | Hello. More than five months since their kidnapping on 7 October, the fate of about 130 Israeli hostages who are still held in Gaza remains uncertain. A young man freed during the temporary truce in November tells Lucy Manning of his concern for those yet to be released. In the US, a bill that could ban TikTok has moved a step closer to the presidential desk. Kerry Allen looks at the reactions from China. Finally, we bring you stories about environmental resilience and a curious discovery about a long-expired lipstick. |
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| | | | | | AT THE SCENE | London, UK | | 'I want to shout his cry on his behalf' | | | | Itay Regev was shot in the leg during Hamas's attack on the Nova festival. Credit: BBC | | Itay Regev was one of the 40 people kidnapped from the Nova festival grounds in southern Israel by Hamas fighters on 7 October. The teenager is currently visiting London to lobby British MPs to do more to secure the release of those who remain captive in Gaza, including his friend Omer. | | | Describing his 54 days of captivity, Itay said he had to come to terms with the fact that he might be killed. "We were very, very hungry. I didn't have a shower for 54 days. My captors were very, very vicious. They didn't care. I had wounds in my legs, big holes in my legs.
"And you lived there in a horrific sense of fear. Every second that you live with this feeling is a terrible feeling, that you don't really know if you're going to wake up in the morning, or in a minute, if a missile is going to fall on you, if they're going to come in with a Kalashnikov and start spraying us with bullets. The conditions are very, very difficult there." |
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| Questions Answered | | China reacts to potential US TikTok ban | | | | The nationalist state-run newspaper Global Times mocked the view that TikTok represents a threat to national security. Credit: Global Times |
| | The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that would force TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance to sell its stake in the social media app within six months or risk a nationwide ban. The bill now faces a vote in the Senate, but China has already made its criticism of the proposed ban known. | | | | Kerry Allen, Chinese media analyst |
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| | How has the US debate been viewed in China? | | Multiple Chinese newspapers have featured satirical cartoons criticising US attempts to suppress TikTok’s growth, claiming that the platform is a national security risk. The Global Times argues this goes against “the principle of fair competition” and China Daily claims the US wants to have its cake and eat it. | | Isn't TikTok banned in China? | | Yes, there’s a certain irony in China's criticism, given the platform isn’t even accessible in the country. People instead use a sister platform known as Douyin, which has all the same functionalities as TikTok - but is only available within the country and is directly subject to monitoring and censorship from Beijing. | | What do Chinese social media users think of the US vote? | | Users say the vote has left them “speechless” and that they regard a possible US move to take ownership of TikTok as “blatant robbery” of the platform. Many are expressing confidence that China will not divest (or sell) the firm. But they do perceive that there may be a snowball effect, with other countries looking to follow suit and ban the platform. | | | | | | |
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| | The big picture | | California's giants find new fertile ground | | | | It will be a few more centuries before the UK's trees grow as tall as those in California. Credit: BBC/Tony Jolliffe |
| | First brought to the UK 160 years ago, giant redwoods are flourishing. In fact, there are now more specimen of the world's largest trees in the UK than there are in their native California, where they are under threat from climate change. | | | | |
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| | | For your downtime | | Return of the tauros | | A prehistoric bovine is being introduced to Portugal's Côa Valley. | | |
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| | And finally... in Mesopotamia | | Archaeologists have traced the use of the world's oldest known lipstick to more than 5,000 years ago in southern Iran. Researchers believe the emerging elites of Bronze Age civilisations used make-up as part of "the display of luxury and superior status". |
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| | | | | | | | In History Newsletter | | The past comes to life through the BBC's unique audio, video and written archive, each Thursday. | | |
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| | | | More BBC newsletters | | • | Football Extra: Latest news, insights and gossip from the Premier League, weekdays. Subscribe. | | • | Royal Watch: The full story from royal correspondent Sean Coughlan, every Thursday. Subscribe. | | • | Tech Decoded: Timely, trusted tech news from global correspondents, twice-weekly. Subscribe. |
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– Sofia |
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