welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm steve lai. the headlines... welcome to newsday. in iran, the supreme leader promises a harsh response after nearly 100 people are killed in bomb attacks. the united states warns houthi rebels in yemen against carrying out further attacks on merchant ships in the red sea. rescue efforts continue in japan, after at least 73 people were killed in a powerful earthquake that hit the country on new year's day. the teenager that captured the hearts of a nation loses his quest to win the title, as luke humphries becomes darts world champion. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday.

it's 8am on thursday morning in singapore. we start in the middle east. iran's supreme leader, says there'll be a harsh response, after at least 95 people were killed by two explosions in the south eastern city of kerman. the blasts were near the saheb al—zaman mosque, where thousands of people had gathered to mark the anniversary of the death of a senior general who was killed in a us drone strike in 2020. caroline hawley reports. the roads leading to the cemetery were packed with people who had gone to pay their respects to qasem soleimani. officials say the bombs had been planted in bags and were apparently set off by remote control. whoever did this was clearly aiming to cause mass casualties. the iranian red crescent said their efforts to evacuate the injured were complicated by the size of the crowds. the first bomb was followed swiftly by a second, more deadly explosion. it comes four years to the day since qasem soleimani was killed himself in an american drone attack while on a visit to iraq. general soleimani was a huge figure in iran, commander of the powerful

revolutionary guards, responsible for arming its proxy militias in the middle east, including hezbollah in lebanon, and for funding hamas. he had a devoted following among supporters of the iranian regime. his funeral was attended, according to estimates, by more than one million mourners. so who would have wanted to attack the commemoration of his death, and why? the most telling thing here is that this attack in kerman does not fit any modus operandi of what the israelis have traditionally done. they are looking for specific individuals, not for large events with lots of people. there are at least two groups that have a history of doing just this type of thing in iran. there's sunni jihadist groups on whom suspicion for this is likely to fall, although no group has yet claimed to have carried it out. iran's supreme leader, ayatollah ali khamenei, said there would be a harsh response.

it is the deadliest attack in the country in decades. it can only increase tensions in a region that is already a tinderbox. caroline hawley, bbc news. bahman kalbasi is the bbc persian�*s un correspondent. obviously the first hours was more of shock, especially given the high number of casualties. and this kind of bombing is not unprecedented, we've had explosions like this in other government—sponsored events. but to see this many people die — especially in the second explosion that happened 20 minutes later, where people gathered to help the first explosion�*s victims — clearly put it on a scale that is somewhat unprecedented. in reality, the deficit of trust in the iranian government, in large proportions of the iranian public, is so deep that their assessment of who has done it and how it has

happened is immediately met with scepticism. but of course, solidarity and pain runs deep in the population across the country, children, women — many of them weren't necessarily even mourning kazem soleimani's death, this was used as an event — usually the government—sponsored events are — to distribute food, and a lot of maybe poorer sectors of society gather to collect food. and they were also among the victims, so it has been... we've heard from the iranian government officials that they immediately blamed israel — it is unclear how and based on what they have made this accusation. obviously, the united states here came out, the government spokesperson, the white house, and the state department saying that is a ridiculous accusation. so the fact that they so quickly pointed the fingers at israel at this time also

shows that maybe it is not one that is very quickly — very clearly investigated, yet at least. so it's hard to put any value on their accusations. well, while the accusations continue to fly, ayatollah ali khamenei has vowed a harsh response. how real is the concern that this could escalate? the fear of escalation is very real. and it's notjust because of this event — obviously, this will throw more fuel on the fire — but what has happened in lebanon in the last few days, the possibility that the war would expand to lebanon, the tit—for—tat between iran—supported groups and us forces in syria and iraq, and of course, what's happening between us forces and houthis in yemen — all point to the potential for a major escalation. meanwhile, majoractors, including the iranian government officials

and the us, keep insisting that they don't want a confrontation between tehran and washington, or israel and iran. but these events are clearly making that harder and harder every day. the un security council has been meeting to discuss the huge disruption to shipping in the red sea, as houthi rebels from yemen continue to attack ships heading to the suez canal. there are warnings that consumers are going to have to pay more for goods because of the extra cost of re—routing container ships. here's our north america correspondent will vernon. the un security council holding a meeting today to discuss the situation in the red sea. and whilst there were no resolutions or votes taken, i think it's still a sign of the increasing alarm globally at the risk to trade in one of the world's most important shipping routes and one of the us representatives to the un, chris liu, said at that meeting that the situation requires a global response and is at an inflection point. but not everyone, of

course, is in agreement. the representative from russia, for example, blamed the us and israel, saying the situation was a direct response to israel's war in gaza and accused the us of fanning the flames in the red sea. but this meeting came shortly after a joint statement was released by the us, the uk and ten other nations. quite a strong, strongly worded joint statement saying that these illegal attacks are profoundly destabilising and sent, i think, a very clear warning to the houthis that they will bear the responsibility of the consequences should these actions continue. these are actions, of course, that not only threaten the lives of merchant sailors, but also disrupt trade. and this comes two weeks after the announcement of the creation of a multinational, multinational naval task force. 0peration prosperity guardian, as it's called.

and this is also to protect shipping in the red sea. but attacks have continued. yesterday, the us military said that two anti—ship ballistic missiles were fired from houthi—controlled territory towards commercial shipping. luckily, no ships were damaged in that incident. now, why is this important? well, the red sea is one of the world's most important shipping routes — around 15% of all global trade passes through the area — and several major shipping firms have already announced that they will be redirecting their ships via other routes. this, of course, takes longer, costs more, and indeed, several international trade bodies have said that consumers should even expect price rises at the cash registers as a result of these actions by the houthi rebels. rescue efforts continue in japan after at least 73 people were killed in a powerful earthquake that hit the country on new year's day. homes collapsed, buildings caught fire and roads were extensively damaged, hindering the work of rescue services.

the quake — with a magnitude of 7.6 — hit the province of noto, in centraljapan. jean mackenzie reports. wajima is burnt and broken. it's taken us two days to reach this city, closest to the epicentre. these are the remnants of the town's market, which was filled with small wooden stalls. but when the earthquake hit, a fire broke out and spread instantly, wiping out this entire site, and firefighters are still having to comb through this smoldering rubble to check that the flames are fully extinguished. the town is devoid of people. the sound of alarms, crushed and activated in the quake, adds to the eeriness. it's not known if people are trapped inside these splintered homes. rescue teams have

struggled to get here. these search dogs only arrived here this morning. there has been a huge delay in searching for survivors, and the teams are now going one by one to each of these collapsed wooden houses to search for them. but they don't know if anyone is inside here. their searches aren't based on any information, they've told us. this resident has come to tell the rescuers she thinks her husband's aunt is inside. translation: she's 95 and can't move much. l we've looked in all the evacuation centres, but can't find her. but the dog can't get far enough in. the team must move on. time is too critical. here, some certainty — there is a woman inside, but alive? they don't know. the window to find people is closing. jean mackenzie, bbc news,

and wajima injapan. to the uk — and junior doctors working in england's public health services have begun a six—day strike. it's the longest industrial action in the history of britain's health service, and follows a break down in talks with the government over pay. before the strike, nhs england medical director professor sir stephen powis said the health service was facing one of its most difficult starts to a year since 1948. hugh pym reports. facing up to the first day of strike action, ben, the lead consultant in the emergency department. morning, everyone. good morning. how was your night? we were handed 15... 15 patients waiting. that's a lot more than we normally have. junior doctors who've been on overnight hand over to the consultants who'll take over. and aphra is supporting the strike action. i'm only two years into being a doctor, so knowing the longevity of the career and seeing how many of my friends have already left go to australia,

i think on balance, it's an issue about retention rather than pay. and the hospital, along with others in north london, is coming under pressure. we're seeing high numbers of attendances in emergency departments, in nearby hospitals. we're having lots of ambulances coming both to uclh and also to the other hospitals, 0k. so we could do with a few more discharges, guys. it's 9.30am and a key planning meeting has to work out how to free up more beds for new patients. not the best position to be in, particularly with thejunior doctor industrial action going on. so we all know what we need to do. we'll try and get you home today. everything sorted. and louisa, who's a matron, is hoping danny can be discharged after an operation. but hopefully, third time lucky. because of the doctors' strikes, her ward has to take in some emergency patients as well as those recovering after surgery. it has been frustrating. i think it's — we want

the best for our patients. so it's feeling for the patients and also for the nurses, because the nurses want to give that expert care. and when you're looking after patients that aren't your speciality, you're not necessarily doing that. and i think that's always something that they struggle with. hi, i'm calling you because we need to reschedule your- appointment due to strikes. here's a part of a hospital you rarely see — staff who have to call patients with bad news about cancellations on strike days and try to rebook them. they are in pain. so i understand that they can be aggressive, although i'm. trying to calm them down and i'm trying _ to find a new date. i'm trying to make things right. - that's what we aim for. every bed you see here has a patient in it. it's the middle of the day, and the emergency department's filling up. ben's a consultant helping cover the strike. he'll be working nearly 70 hours over the six days. it's so tiring to do this 24/7 cover. we can't do it for much longer

than the six days we're going to attempt to do. but how does six days feel? i enjoy my work, but it's going to be busy and it's going to be hard. and after the sixth day, i'm going to be pretty exhausted. the message today is that the hospital's extremely busy but safe, though they are nervous about the next five days. let's bring you some breaking news. it could have some bearing on the upcoming us present election. donald trump has asked the us supreme court to step in after he was barred by the state of colorado from standing in this year's presidential election. mr trump was disqualified after colorado apostle and high court ruled that a provision in the us constitution meant he was ineligible to hold public office because he's engaged in insurrection leading to the january 6th attack on the us capitol. we will have more on this story as news comes in it

develops. in the meantime, some other news from a developing story we've been covering this morning here on bbc news. a new york court has started releasing hundreds of documents relating to a defamation case, which name people who were either associates, friends, or victims of convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein. the disgraced millionaire mixed with high—profile figures from the worlds of politics, business and royalty. earlier, i spoke to our correspondent peter bowes in los angeles, and asked what could be expected from these documents. well, these documents have been much anticipated ever since the judge, just before christmas, said that they would be made public about now at about the the turn of the year. it seems to have been delayed by a few days, but we do anticipate it happening in the next few hours. and what we are expecting is potentially some 170, perhaps more than that,

names of people who are, in one way or another, associated with the latejeffrey epstein. now, inclusion on this list doesn't mean that they have done anything wrong — they could be accusers ofjeffrey epstein, they could be witnesses of any alleged wrongdoing. and as you implied, jeffrey epstein moved in high circles. he mixed with politicians and business people and hollywood famous stars, as well. and that is why there is so much interest in this as to who could be on the list. he is known to have associated with some very high—profile figures, some of whom have since disassociated themselves with him — i'm thinking of former presidents like bill clinton and donald trump, and prince andrew in the uk, of course, essentially saw the ending of his royal career because of his friendship withjeffrey epstein — he has denied any wrongdoing. so this really comes from a civil trial, a civil case that was brought against ghislaine maxwell, one ofjeffrey epstein�*s

long—time friends. she is now serving some 20 years in prison for crimes that she committed with him. and one of his accusers brought this civil case — and at the time, the names were kept under wraps, but now we know that they will be made public. and another reason why there's so much interest in this is that they could shed further light on the sex trafficking network that was directed by jeffrey epstein. it could be quite a slow and long process, in terms of releasing these names, as well. there'll be a whole raft of documents that certainly many people will be scrutinising very closely. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news — bringing you different stories from across the uk. tacking up to take down criminals. it might not be theirjob, butjess and claire have volunteered to even up the fight when it comes to crime in the countryside.

i love tilton, where i keep my horse, and i want to give a little bit back to the community. i'm out on my horse almost every day, and the role came up and i thought, "yeah, let's go for it. "why not? " the aim — to crack down on incidents like this, which last year, nfu mutual says cost the midlands economy more than £11 million. you've had a tip—off already? yes, we were contacted by a volunteer. - she had been out riding - and come across some silver tents in a hedgerow ditch line. she's hopped off to have a look and it was the remains - of a cannabis grove. there was also a large box with cannabis in it. - the 20 riders are vetted and recruited and will work alongside rural policing teams to be their eyes and ears along quiet country lanes. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. japanese authorities say a coastguard aircraft involved in a fatal collision at tokyo's haneda airport tuesday was not

cleared for take—off. the smaller aeroplane collided with a japan airlines passenger jet on the runway on tuesday. air traffic control transcripts shows the japan airlines flight all 379 passengers and crew on board the passengerjet were safely evacuated. but five coastguard crew members were killed in the fiery crash. the former president of sierra leone, ernest bai koroma, has been charged with four counts of treason over an alleged coup plot in november. he is under house arrest following questioning by the police. at least 21 people were killed in attacks on a barracks and a prison in freetown in november. mr koroma's lawyer said the charges are part of a political vendetta. in kentucky, a judge ordered a former clerk who refused to give a marriage licence to same—sex couples to pay legal fees to one couple's lawyers. kim davis was found guilty last year of violating the couple's constitutional rights.

she now has to pay $260,000 in fees, plus $100,000 damages she already owed them. ms davis was brieflyjailed in 2015 for ignoring the us supreme court's ruling that legalised same—sex marriage. she cited her religious beliefs. 2024 was rung in without any announcement of a host for the 2026 commonwealth games. the australian state of victoria pulled out last july, saying that hosting would be too expensive — and the organisers have so far failed to find a replacement. so will these games happen, and what do these troubles mean for their long—term future? hunter fujak from melbourne is a lecturer in sports management at australia's deakin university. he told me earlier that after australia, there weren't many candidates for the sporting competition. well, we know with reasonable certainty that australia is off the list now, as are the uk, and that really narrows down the prospectives candidates to places like new zealand, or potentially further left field, a place like india,

south africa, or some of those more developing nations. and with just a two—year lead time for any prospective host, is 2026 still realistic? not particularly. the commonwealth games federation wants to announce a winner by february — and realistically, 2027 is very much on the table, simply because of the incredible infrastructure requirements around getting venues ready and around the chosen sports. so 2026 is looking very unlikely, and if it will proceed, it'll most likely be in 2027. you mentioned the infrastructure needed — are these huge sporting events just getting too expensive and unsustainable for cities now? we've seen both the olympic movement and the commonwealth games introduce measures to try to become more flexible and adaptive to try to lower the cost burden on these mega events. in the case of the commonwealth games, there's only actually two sports which must feature on the programme, which is athletics and swimming —

and everything else is entirely flexible up to the respective host bidder. so, there is an attempt to make these fit games more feasible simply by being more flexible to the requirements of that host nation. but undoubtedly, the longer—term trend is that these are getting more expensive, which is narrowing down the prospective host bidders. and when it comes to the commonwealth games in particular, since the death of queen elizabeth, republicanism in commonwealth countries has been rising. are the commonwealth games still relevant? it's a really difficult challenge for the commonwealth games movement. of course it's reinvented itself in the past, from originally being the empire games, for instance — and undoubtedly if it is to survive, it will need to reinvent itself once more. what we do know is the commonwealth games, whilst colonialism might be a vex challenge in other countries, the games are available to these other small countries that can't necessarily compete at the olympic level. so there is still intrinsic value in the games, but it's

certainly in need of a rebrand. and just quickly, 2030 and beyond, do you think they'll still be taking place? 2030 will mark the 100—year anniversary since the inception of the games in hamilton, in canada. and so i think it's very probable, or hopeful, that there will be a 100th anniversary of the games. but perhaps it might be a case of 100 and out. a british teenager has failed in his bid to win the darts world championship final. luke littler, who is 16, was beaten 7—4 by luke humphries at the tournament in london. he described his progress through the championship over the past few weeks as unbelievable. 0ur sports correspondent natalie pirks has been outside alexandra palace, where the match took place — and our reporter nick garnett is at st helens darts academy, where luke littler has trained since he was a young child. well, luke littler had pretty much strolled into this final, steam—rolling former champions

along the way — not this time. the 16—year—old had taken a 4—2—set lead, but luke humphries started playing some wonderful stuff, hauling himself back into the match. he won five sets on the spin, punishing littler�*s mistakes, making him look ordinary indeed. everybody in that arena was singing for him, but in the end, some of the composure that had been a hallmark of this fairy—tale run seemed to desert him, and he fell at the final hurdle. still, he leaves here tonight £200,000 richer — and at the start of what could be a wonderful career. absolute nailbiter from start to finish. there were cheers, tears, and one or two beers. every single dart that's gone and was followed by the crowded — i mean, over150 in the small room — and every time there was a break in play, all the kids ran over behind me to the dartboards to start practising, to try and be a bit like their hero. and remember, luke littler isjust16 years old — he's still at school, he can't even learn to drive yet, and he can't even go and buy himself a pint to commiserate tonight.

but he's still the youngest player in the final in the game's history. but the real legacy is what he's done to the game — he's brought new people in, but he's also brought in the people here. there are more members here than they've ever had before, 90 or so children coming every week to play and to try and be like their real hero. before we go, a reminder of the breaking news out of the us. the us court has released a list of people connected to the financier and sex offender jeffrey epstein. it is worth noting that some of those named are accused of wrongdoing, while others on the list, which was expected to include some high—profile individuals, are making allegations or are potential witnesses. check our website for more

information. hello there. we're only a few days into the new month, but already, some spots in eastern england have seen more than half their averagejanuary rainfall. and there's potentially more wet weather to come, too, in the forecast before things tend to settle down into the weekend, and it will turn drier. but plenty of flood alerts, flood warnings still in place. keep up to date with those on the bbc weather website, and of course, on your local bbc radio station, too. now, this is the pressure chart for thursday — low pressure still centred out towards the north west of scotland, still a brisk southeasterly wind with more rain for the northern isles, and some more rain heading towards the south of england, too. more on that in just a moment. temperatures to start off thursday morning above freezing — 4—7 celsius north to south. there'll be more showers across the far north of scotland into the northern isles, also for western scotland, with a few showers heading across northern ireland into northwest england. more sunshine further south, but it's this area of rain that is of most concern — it will be falling on pretty

saturated ground, and that band of rain will be pushing further northwards as we head through the afternoon. this is how we'll end the afternoon, between around 7—10 celsius. that rain set to push further northward — still some debate as to how far north it will eventually get, but it's likely to bring us some strong, gusty winds towards the south coast as it curls off towards east anglia — of course, all unhelpfully timed with the evening rush hour — so do expect more problems, particularly where we've seen the recent flooding. but friday is happily a much quieter day of weather, that low pressure starts to move away. we've still got a legacy of cloud and some rain towards eastern coastal areas, as we head through friday morning. there'll still be some showers, too, across parts of aberdeenshire heading towards the northern isles, and a good scattering of showers out towards those western coasts. but plenty of sunshine around, the winds will be lighter, and the temperatures will be a little lower, too, 6—9 celsius.

and then, as we head through the weekend, the high pressure starts to build in — it will become quite firmly established across the uk, and should stick around into next week. but of course, as the jet stream dips southwards, we'll also be drawing in much colder—feeling air, so there will be a drop in temperature. so feeling colder, turning dry, though, with some frost and fog through the mornings. bye—bye for now.

inflation fears mount as attacks in the red sea continue, and wall street braces for the federal reserve's first 2024 meeting later this month. plus — what if it took you three hours to get to work every day? a special report on how people deal with long commutes. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. we begin the programme this hour with news about the us federal reserve. investors hoping for a quick interest rate cut from america's central bank may be disappointed. discussions about a timetable for lowering rates were absent from minutes from their last meeting, but it did show fed officials believing further hikes are off the table as inflation cools. from new york, our north america business correspondent michelle fleury sent this report.

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