welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm steve lai. the headlines.. king charles has been diagnosed with cancer — buckingham palace says he will continue with state duties — but step back from public engagements during his treatment. the palace says the cancer was identified during the king's recent trip to hospital for an enlarged prostate — but haven't said what type of cancer it is. america's top diplomat visits the middle east for talks — after the latest round of us strikes on iran—linked targets in the region. an australian academic is given a suspended death sentence by a chinese court. the australian government says it is appalled by the decision live from our studio in singapore — this is bbc news. it's newsday.

there is only one place to start this hour, and that is with buckingham palace has announced that the king is being treated for cancer. he will continue with state duties but will step back from public engagements during his treatment.during the kings recent hospital procedure for benign prostate enlargement, a separate issue of concern was noted. subsequent diagnostic tests have identified a form of cancer. our royal correspondent daniella ralph has the latest there was little sign yesterday of the announcement about to be made. the king was pictured on the sandringham estate in norfolk walking to church with queen camilla. it was thought to be recovering after a hospital stay. exactly a week ago today, the king left a private hospital in central london, where he had spent three nights being treated for an enlarged prostate, and we now know during his stay here cancer was discovered. in a statement, released at six o'clock this evening,

buckingham palace said... although open about his diagnosis, buckingham palace says the form of cancer of the king has will be kept private. as will the nature of his treatment. all of his public engagements have been cancelled. last week the queen was asked how her husband was recovering from his prostate condition, during a visit to a new cancer support centre at a north london hospital. she said he was doing his best. the king's condition means royal duties will have to be

picked up elsewhere. with the prince of wales and others taking on some of the engagements. prince william himself has been away from royal duty for three weeks, following his wife's stay in hospitalfor surgery, but he returns to work this wednesday. queen camilla is central to this and also the princess royal is crucial, and the duke and duchess of edinburgh will be stepping up. it is a slimmed down monarchy but it is a team and it will have to regroup and adapt. the king will have a visitor this week as well. it is understood the duke of sussex will be travelling to the uk from his home in california to see his father who contacted him personally with news of his diagnosis. it is the first time prince harry has seen the king since the coronation. this is a testing time for the king and the

wider royalfamily. as they balance personal, private challenges, with the need to continue with the public duties. in the past, british monarchs have not chosen to share the diagnosis of any serious illness with the public. any constitutional issues that have arisen have been discussed behind closed doors. king charles has broken with that tradition but made it clear he intends to continue working on affairs of state as much as possible. here's our royal correspondent nicholas witchell. he is 75 years of age and like anyone receiving a diagnosis of cancer, irrespective of their position, he is having to deal with a sharp reminder of his own mortality. in terms of his constitutional role as head of state, notjust of the uk but of 14 other nations as well, that is unaffected, so long as he is not physically incapacitated and there is no suggestion of that. though it appears he will

disappearfrom public view, he will continue to deal with the red boxes, the state papers which come to him every day. there are a multitude of documents from parliamentary bills to a host of other things which require his attention and his signature. if he were to become incapacitated, then other members of the royal family would step forward as counsellors of state, his wife, his siblings, and his sons are all counsellors of state, but there is an acceptance that neither andrew or the absent harry could se seen to perform such a role. in the early 19505 charles�*s grandfather king george vi had been diagnosed with lung cancer, and he underwent an operation at buckingham palace to remove one lung and other members of the family including his wife could have fulfilled his constitutional role while he was incapacitated. however, there is nothing

to suggest such an arrangement will be required in the case of charles. if things change, then a decision would have to be made for counsellors of state to be appointed and the king would have to sign the letters patented effectively springing the counsellors of state into life, and two of them would have to act, effectively deputising for the king. so for king charles, a fit 75—year—old who has generally capped with life with resilience and humour, there is now the challenge of dealing with the levelling impact of cancer. though the prognosis appears to be good, it would be a considerable and often solitary test. nicholas witchell, bbc news. drjeff foster is a gp who specialises in men's health — he explained how this kind of diagnosis might have come about.

we are more likely to get certain cancers at certain ages. and obviously in your 70s. i mean, we can we can only speculate, obviously, but what's probably happened is you go in for your scan, for your benign prostate. there's no suspicion that the prostate itself is cancerous. but because you're having checks and balances for other things, they probably will have screened for other processes at the time. he probably will have had a ct or mri scan around the pelvis and either a blood test will have come back abnormal, or part of the scan highlights something that looks abnormal and the two most common ones you'll pick up or probably be either a type of blood cancer called myeloma, which is quite common in that age group, or it might be something entirely separate, such as a bowel or something else issue that you can pick up just from looking at the scan. the first step, all these sorts of patients is get as much detail as you can and that will help you decide your type of treatment, whether it's a chemotherapy or a surgery, radiotherapy, etc. , etc. . and then you can kind of get

an idea of what your progress and what your prognosis might be moving forward. there have been responses from westminster, the prime minister rish sunak said... the labour leader sir keir starmer said... northern ireland first minister michelle o'neill said.... the leader of the democratic unionist party sirjeffrey donaldson also said... welsh first minister mark drakeford said...

the scottish first minister humza yousaf has also been giving his reaction to the king's cancer diagnosis. can i send my thoughts and prayers to his majesty the king and wish him well for a full recovery and a return back to public life. let me also send my very best wishes and my thoughts with her majesty the queen and all members of the royal family who will be deeply worried at this time. i don't think it matters whether you are a member of the royal family or not. if a family member has cancer, that is always going to be extremely worrying indeed, so i want to send them my very best wishes, notjust on behalf of myself, personally, the government i lead but on behalf of the entire nation.

international reactions have come in earlier, including french president emmanuel macron, who also wished a speedy recovery to king charles.reactions have also been pouring in america, earlier i spoke to our north america correspondent david willis that's right, steve. yes. well, president biden himself is no stranger, as far as his family is concerned, to the curse that cancer can inflict. his son, of course, died of brain cancer at the age of 46. that was back in 2015. he also lost a close friend, a friend from across the aisle in american politics, former senatorjohn mccain, who died a couple of years later also from cancer. well, joe biden has been in las vegas talking to union members. that's what he was doing when the news emerged of king charles�*s diagnosis. this is whatjoe biden had to say then. do you have a message for king charles? yes. i'm concerned about him, just heard his diagnosis, i probably talk to him, god willing. - and what's next on the order bill?

hopefully passes in the senate. how? with enough votes. david, tell us how the king is perceived in america. well, he is perceived, i think, with great affection. not quite the affection that his mother, of course, was held in, the esteem his mother was held in. it's worth pointing out as well thatjoe biden after that doorstep went on to issue a statement on the social media platform formerly known as twitter, now called x. he said navigating a cancer diagnosis, treatment and survivorship takes hope and absolute courage. jill and ijoined the people of the united kingdom praying that his majesty experience as a swift and full recovery. we've also had reaction from the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, who sent his well wishes

to the king, saying that canadians across the country were thinking of him, sending him very best wishes and hoping for a fast and full recovery. but in answer to your question, steve, i think there was perhaps more affection for a while for the younger royals as far as people on this side of the pond are concerned. william and kate in particular, but given the outpouring of commiseration and best wishes that are being sent to king charles from this side of the pond, it is clear that a lot of people are now very concerned about his condition as well. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, is on another diplomatic tour of the middle east — his fifth visit to the region since the conflict erupted between israel and hamas. he's visiting saudi arabia, israel, egypt, qatar

and the occupied west bank. mr blinken�*s trip follows days of airstrikes by the united states against iranian—linked targets in iraq, syria and yemen. ahead of his arrival, a drone attack killed six us—backed kurdish fighters at an american base in eastern syria. mr blinken is also expected to discuss boosting aid to gaza, as well as a possible ceasefire and hostage deal between israel and hamas. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has warned he will not accept hamas's demands over the hostages still held. the un has warned of an impending famine in gaza. earlier i spoke to eyal mayroz, who's a senior lecturer in peace and conflict studies at the university of sydney. good morning from sydney. it is difficult to know because at the moment the americans, the egyptians and the qataris are all signaling a positive outlook on the future of the negotiations. but we hear both from israel and likely from the hamas, even though they have not released their official response yet, that the gaps are still very much

existing on the israeli side, the government, the right wing government is objecting to quite a number of the proposals. hamas is also likely to continue to insist on safety for it, for its leadership and either a permanent ceasefire or if they can't get that, at least a very prolonged one, which the israeli government is is very reluctant to provide unless they get a lot in return. and even then, the radical elements in the government may topple netanyahu's rule. and and this is something netanyahu is very much afraid. yeah. if we can stay with netanyahu a bit. he has said that he will not accept hamas demands over the hostages still held.

and he's previously said he won't entertain the prospect of a two—state solution. how big a strain is this on the us—israel relationship in light of blinken�*s visit? this is exactly the problem because netanyahu is finding it increasingly difficult to say no to every american demand. but at the same time, if he succumbed to some of the of these ideas, then, as i said, his government is not going to survive. and that, for netanyahu, is the end of of his prospects for any kind of future. so he's trying to juggle an impossible situation now, and i don't see how he can find a way out of it. and if we focus on the us for a bit, how do you perceive the recent air strikes by the us against iranian linked targets in the middle east and their potential impact on regional dynamics? could it escalate the conflict? the americans have been facing a major difficulties and there are a lot of burning issues that they will want to now discuss in the visit, in blinken�*s visit.

and they are also trying hard to separate the two issues of gaza and the other challenges they are facing, both in relation to the houthis in yemen, but also the iranian backed militias in in syria and iraq. they are saying that it seems like they've reached the conclusion that what they've done in terms of the attacking 85 targets just recently in syria, in iraq, will not escalate into a full regional war because the iranians don't want that. but at the same time, they're with they have been with their back to the wall because of over 100 provocations. so after the killing of three americans in jordan just recently, they can no longerjust sit back. so, again, trying to make sure that escalation doesn't happen. and while all these machinations are going on, the un has warned

of an impending famine in gaza. the plight of a people for the palestinians there is getting bleak, isn't it? yes. and i think this is one thing the americans are really desperate to get is is a kind of a win both internationally and domestically for them in terms of a major increase in the humanitarian aid into gaza. and i think this is where they will be pressuring the netanyahu government most. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. bbc news— bringing you different stories from across the uk. people who live near this land have had the prospect of a massive solar farm here hanging over them for more than two years. hanging over them for more than two yew-— two years. thousands of responses. _ two years. thousands of responses, 1000 - two years. thousands of. responses, 1000 responses two years. thousands of- responses, 1000 responses for this tiny rural population of hours at. this tiny rural population of hours at— this tiny rural population of hours at. �* , .,, , hours at. and inquiry has been held, opinions _ hours at. and inquiry has been held, opinions heard, - hours at. and inquiry has been held, opinions heard, we - hours at. and inquiry has been held, opinions heard, we will. held, opinions heard, we will know the outcome by the summer. the petition is being gathered

by a local mp right up until the last possible moment to put pressure on the energy security secretary who will decide. mr; secretary who will decide. my “ob is to secretary who will decide. ij�*i job is to be secretary who will decide. m: job is to be a secretary who will decide. m; job is to be a place for our committee. so i will take every opportunity to dojust committee. so i will take every opportunity to do just that —— dojust that. it opportunity to do just that —— do just that. it can't hurt, can? , ., , ., can? plenty of energy for the national grid, _ can? plenty of energy for the national grid, enough - can? plenty of energy for the national grid, enough to - can? plenty of energy for the i national grid, enough to power 92,000 homes, say the developers. a terrible loss of agricultural land by the side of the east coast main line, say opponents. rutland has lost a huge suite of farmland before to a national infrastructure project when rutland water was built. ., ., , ., , project when rutland water was built. ., ., , ., built. for more stories from across the _ built. for more stories from across the uk, _ built. for more stories from across the uk, head - built. for more stories from across the uk, head to - built. for more stories from across the uk, head to the l built. for more stories from i across the uk, head to the bbc websito — you're live with bbc news. the hamas—run health ministry says nearly twenty seven and half thousand people have been killed in gaza in nearly four months of conflict. 0ur correspondent lucy williamson has been looking into the story of one six year

old girl — who fled the fighting in gaza city with her uncle's family. she was last heard from in a desperate call to the emergency services. i should warn you, you may find some of lucy's report distressing. alone and underfire, six—year—old hind rajab called for help. surrounded by the bodies of her relatives, she begged paramedics and her mother to come and get her. they tried. a week on, hind's mother still doesn't know what happened to her daughter. the ambulance sent to rescue her is missing, too. she waits every day at a nearby hospital, hoping her daughter will be brought in. translation: every time i hear the sound of an ambulance, - i think maybe it's her. every sound, every gunshot, every falling missile, every bomb, i wonder if it's heading for my daughter, if she is being hit. hind was in a car with her uncle's family as they fled

the fighting in gaza city. at the fares petrol station, their car appears to have come under fire. hind's cousin layan told the palestinian red crescent that she and hind were the only ones left alive. rapid gunfire. the call ended with heavy gunfire. when operators called back, it was hind who answered. siren wails. it took several hours for israel's army to allow an ambulance to reach hind, trapped inside an active combat zone.

hours that operator rana stayed talking to hind on the phone. translation: she kept i saying, "come and get me. if you can't come," she said, "send someone else." she even asked me how far my house was. it shows how she was holding onto hope — the last hope of us talking to her. it was very painful for us. siren wails. as the ambulance approached the area, all connections were lost. since then, there's been no sign of hind or the paramedics who went to save her. we asked the israeli army for information. they said they were checking. hidden somewhere in gaza is the unfinished story of six—year—old hind rajab, waiting for the fighting to end. lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. australian writer yang hengjun

has been given a suspended death sentence by a chinese court, five years after he was arrested and accused of spying. yang was charged with spying charges he's always denied. the death sentence will be commuted to life in prison after two years, if no further alleged crimes come to light. the australian foreign minister penny wong says she's "appalled" by what she called a "harrowing" decision. we understand that this can be commuted to a life sentence following two years. the australian government is appalled at this outcome. we will be commuting, communicating our response in the strongest terms. as a first step, i have directed my secretary to summon as china's ambassador to australia to express our objection.

yang and his family will be feeling today coming after years of uncertainty. my thoughts, the prime minister's thoughts and i think all australians thoughts are with them. dr yang has been detained since january 2019 on national security charges. his verdict and his sentence have been subject to repeated delays since his closed trial on the 27th of may 2021. the australian government has advocated for dr yang with china at every opportunity and at the highest levels. we have consistently called for basic standards ofjustice, procedural fairness and humane treatment for dr yang in accordance with international norms and china's legal obligations. australia will not relent in our advocacy forjustice, for dr yang's interests and wellbeing, including appropriate medical treatment, and we will continue to provide consular assistance to him and his family. all australians want to see dr yang reunited with his family. an indian actress who faked her own death, to raise awareness about cervical cancer, has sparked a furious debate on the ethics of online publicity campaigns. 0ur reporter, courtney bembridge, has more

details from the newsroom. an amp band's official instagram account announced news of her death on friday. tributes started flowing in, and it was immediately picked up by news outlets. here's how it was reported by india today. very tragic news. it's coming early this morning. social media star poonam pandey is no more. but the following day, another video was posted on her instagram account. i'm alive. i didn't die because of cervical cancer. i unfortunately, i cannot say that about those hundredsl and thousands of women who have lost their lives. _ there was an immediate backlash and over the weekend the actress apologised. but she also defended her actions, saying yes, i faked my demise. extreme, i know, but suddenly we're all talking about cervical cancer, aren't we?

and certainly in the short term there was a spike in interest. this graph shows the google searches in india for cervical cancer. and you can see that spike last week. but if we have a look at the most recent figures, they are back down to around the level they were a week ago. well, the digital marketing agency behind this campaign has also spoken, extending a heartfelt apology, especially towards those who've been triggered as a result of having faced any kind of cancer or with family members who have faced the disease. but the firm did add that poonam pandey�*s mother had battled cancer, and that's why she wanted to shine a light on the issue. well, cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers through screening and vaccines. last week, the government there announced a raft of measures to try to address the issue, and many have speculated that this stunt may have been part of that. cancer is a serious disease. do go and have yourself checked regularly. this is bbc news.

hello there. monday was a day of significant contrasts across the country. mild, dry, but windy across england and wales. pretty wet across northern and central scotland. in fact, highlands seeing over five inches of rain since sunday. and this very slow weather front will gradually drift its way steadily southwards through the day on tuesday. behind it, introducing colder air all the way down from the arctic. that could have an impact later in the week. but tuesday will start off with rain sinking south out of northern ireland into northern england, gradually pushing its way down into wales and the midlands. ahead of it, it stays blustery, cloudy but mild. behind it, quite a clearance, crisp with some sunshine coming through. a few scattered showers turning wintry with elevation. 1—5 celsius generally in scotland, 7—9 celsius under the rain, but still double digits, 12 or13 celsius ahead of it. now, that frontal system

will continue to bring some rain steadily south and then pushing that colder arctic air pretty much right across the country. the exception is the far southwest. but wednesday will certainly be a brighter day. more sunshine coming through. largely dry with a few scattered showers continuing to be wintry with elevation in scotland. here we'll likely see temperatures 2—4 celsius, but generally around 2—9 celsius. milder in the southwest, and that weather front then tries to squeeze back north into that colder air. and that is going to potentially have quite an impact, as it bumps into the colder air on the leading edge, we could see some snow for a time. favoured spots at the moment look likely to be across wales, the midlands and stretching up into the north of england. to the south of that, it will always stay as rain. but the met office has issued an early yellow warning — be aware that there could be some impacts with some snow through the midlands, north wales and northern england. two centimetres widely at lower

levels, maybe a little more with any elevation. so we'll need to keep an eye on that on thursday. it looks likely that scotland will stay in the colder, brighter, sunnier conditions, and to the south we're likely to continue to see rain. it may well stay relatively mild down to the south as we move into the weekend, but still noticeably colder the further north you go. keep watching the forecast. take care.

showing strength. we look at the state of australia's economy as its central bank decides its next move on interest rates. plus.. how ideal corporate credit conditions are paving the way for a soft landing in the world's largest economy? hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. let's start with australia where later this morning the central bank will review its benchmark interest rate. higher mortgage payments in australia are hitting savings and spending for low—income households, but the economy has also shown surprising strength. i spoke withjun bei liu from tribeca alpha plus fund earlier who gave us her outlook for markets and the economy this year. australian economy has been

resilient, one