welcome to newsday. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: russia's main opposition leader is arrested, along with hundreds of supporters, as anti—corruption protests sweep the country. elected to lead hong kong, but not by its people. pro—democracy activists denounce the poll as a sham. i'm babita sharma in london. we meet two young boys in a hospital in mosul as the iraqi city continues count the cost of the fight against is. we hear from the lawyer representing amos yee, the singaporean teenager who has been granted asylum in america, after being jailed for his online comments. good morning. it's 8am in singapore,

1am in london, and 3am in moscow where thousands of russians have been taking part in anti—corruption rallies across the country, in defiance of the kremlin. the biggest protests were in the russian capital, where police say 500 people have been detained. they included the opposition leader, alexei navalny, who's called for the demonstrations. the rallies are the biggest seen in russia for several years. the us state department says the detention of the protestors is an affront to core democratic values. there were moments when moscow resembled a battlefield. russian riot police broke up an anti—government protest on what was anti—government protest on what was a day of demonstrations across russia. in moscow, they detained more than 500 people. earlier,

police had poured into the city centre, warning that the protest was illegal. still, thousands of people packed into pushkin square to excuse the russian government of corruption. translation: the level of corruption is too high and russia at the moment. i think every citizen understands it. translation: it is hard to live in corruption atmosphere. i had children, grandchildren, and i can't breathe in this. these people have come out to protest against government corruption, but the message which this is sending to the cloud is that fighting corruption is not a priority of the russian authorities. among those arrested, russian opposition leader alexey vivaldi. he plans to run for president next year. whether he will be allowed to is unclear. —— alexei

navalny. people took to the streets in hundreds of cities are russia, defying bands. these were some of the largest protests russia has seen for several years. vladimir putin still enjoys strong support, but he cannot take for granted. our other top story: the british home secretary, amber rudd, has demanded access to encrypted messaging services in terrorism cases. her comments to the bbc come after it emerged that moments before khalid masood began his rampage in westminster last week, his phone was linked to the messaging service, whatsapp. there should be no place for terrorists to hide. we need to make sure that organisations like whatsapp and there are others like that, that they do not provide a safe place for terrorists to connecticut with each other. it used

to be that it would steam open envelopes or listen in on phones when they want to find out what people were doing, legally, with warrants, but in this situation, we need to make sure our intelligence services have the abilityjude get inside things like the encrypted whatsapp. —— the ability to. also making news this hour: political deadlock is continuing in northern ireland. sinn fein says current power—sharing talks have run their course and they will not be nominating a deputy first minister on monday. but the leader of the biggest party, the dup, accused sinn fein of not wanting to secure an agreement. the christian democrat party of chancellor angela merkel have been given a boost ahead of this autumn‘s federal elections in germany by winning the regional vote in the western state of saarland. preliminary results suggest they've taken more than 40% of the vote, up five points from the previous election. in belarus, police have arrested more demonstrators who demanded to know where friends and family were after a major protest on saturday.

about 400 people were detained in the first protests which were against a tax on those classed as under—employed. the foreign ministry said the demonstrations were not peaceful. united airlines has faced a barrage of criticism after it barred two teenage girls from boarding a flight for wearing leggings. a third girl, who was ten years old, and who was also wearing leggings, was only allowed to board after she put on a dress that was in her backpack. a female member of staff told the girls that they could not proceed while wearing spandex, which the airline deems inappropriate. the ferrari driver sebastian vettel has set up the prospect of a thrilling season for formula i after he easily won the first grand prix of the season in australia. he beat rival lewis hamilton by nearly ten seconds. there have been big changes to the sport this year, if you've been following it, including faster cars which are more demanding to drive. the next race is in china.

more on that in sport today later this hour. a waistcoat belonging to the 18th century british explorer, captain james cook, failed to reach its expected auction price of between $600,000 and $830,000 in sydney. captain cook made three long voyages of discovery around the pacific and it's thought the waistcoat was worn on the first of them, to australia. hong kong's newly chosen chief executive has said it will be her priority to heal the divisions in the semi—autonomous chinese territory. carrie lam was elected by a specially—appointed committee of nearly 1200 people, most of them loyal to beijing. ms lam had the backing of the chinese government

and was widely expected to win. earlier i got the reaction from the bbc‘sjuliana liu in hong kong. carrie lam is the first woman chief executive elected in hong kong. but that historic fact overshadowed somewhat eye the fact that she has become such a polarising figure in the past few years. she was not the people's choice. i think she admitted that come at somewhat, in her first press conference, saying that she knew she was coming in with humility and needed to mend some words. this is one of the top—selling chinese daily newspapers in hong kong. and it is a broadsheet. as you can see, large photos make photo splashed on the front, showing carrie lam and her main competitor, who was shown to be more popular in many polls. the headline say that she won 777 votes, the most won by any candidate for

chief executive. and that her top priority would be to mend ruptures in society. and below that, a handy table of the promises she has made in herfirst table of the promises she has made in her first speech and also in table of the promises she has made in herfirst speech and also in her platform as she was running for chief executive. so quite a handy summary chief executive. so quite a handy summary of which is promised to do. let me show you another newspaper. this is the oriental daily news, another chinese daily. you can see the headlines in red and blue. their blue headline translates roughly into "what a mess", referring to what she has got facing her as she enters. and you can see activists hit -- enters. and you can see activists hit —— here with police before

voting. so quite big news in hong kong. she is expected to have another press conference later today. iraqi forces are intensifying their assault against so called islamic state, as they attempt to drive the militants out of western mosul. thousands of people have fled the city in recent weeks, and there are conflicting reports about who was responsible for scores of civilian deaths in a single incident last week. the us says it's investigating but has stopped short of taking responsibility. with the city still divided between is and the iraqi army, our correspondent 0rla guerin has been to a field hospital in the south of mosul. ii—years—old, shot in the leg. behind him, a boy of the same age, hit by a mortar. brought together in a field hospital by acts of war. uday and mohammad, children of mosul. not safe at home, not safe when they flee.

the beds are filling up here. ambulances have been arriving every few minutes. most of those we've seen being brought in are children. they've been injured by air strikes and also by shelling, but the staff here tell us they've also received a lot of patients who've been shot by is snipers. it is shoot to kill. isis is not messing around. they don't want people to leave, and they don't care whether it's a child, a man or an old woman. everybody is being shot as they try to escape. people are saying it takes two isis militants to really keep an area under control, and prevent civilians from going anywhere. they want the civilians to stay inside to remain as human shields. kusei tried to break free with his younger brother, but uday was targeted by an is sniper. this footage, filmed by hospital staff, shows the anguish of abdullah. his five—year—old granddaughter,

sara, is in the body bag. is shot her through the heart. but those who escaped the battlefield are bringing accounts of other innocent civilians. allegedly killed by their liberators. victims of bombing raids, by iraqi and coalitionjets. akram mahmood insists that his brother was one of them. 0n the right, he says that his brother, hamad, was a truck driver, and not a militant, and his guide all his life. hamad died on his own doorstep, he tells me, when an air strike hit his car. five men were killed with my brother, says akram. "i bury them with my own hands."

the slogan from the authorities was ‘we're coming to rescue you, to free you from is'. "in reality, my brother has been killed, and lots of families have been destroyed." and in the camp nearby, the broken and the displaced reach out in desperation. after years of is tyranny, and months of warfare, one more hardship for the people of mosul. 0rla guerin, bbc news, northern iraq. it's cost $500 million and ta ken four—yea rs. australia's commission into child sexual abuse allegations is holding its final public hearing in this week. the commission has heard from more than 6500 survivors and will hear from another 2000 people by the time the final report is completed in december. a short time ago i got the latest from our correspondent

hywel griffith in sydney. well, this will be the final public hearing after some four years of work. they have heard, over the course of that, from victims of abuse from many different sectors of life. a large concentration of allegations of abuse by the catholic church. some 4000 or more victims coming forward and say they were subjected to abuse. likewise, the anglican church has been under spotlight. more than 1000 accusations against the anglican church in history. but as you said, it has gone further than out. it has looked at sporting organisations, as well schools and the care sector. so this has really been very comprehensive. the idea that this final week of hearings is to tie those threads together and see what, if anything, unites them. and i think that is when you strike on some key and difficult issues. what are the allegations will be heard

today? like i said, it brings together all the different strands. so they will want to look at what impact it has on the victims long time. they will be hearing from a specialist, understand, who talks about the physical impact on the brain and developmental impact on a child, if they are abused in their early years. also, they will be looking at mandatory reporting when abuse happens. and if that is mentioned to someone, what duty of ca re mentioned to someone, what duty of care somebody has in a public organisation, be their teacher, a coach, a priest, oranyone. organisation, be their teacher, a coach, a priest, or anyone. what duty they have two present that allegation to the authorities. that has been one of the key fault lines that has come up in the past four yea rs of that has come up in the past four years of work. all too often, the allegation of abuse was not passed on at the time in a way that it could be dealt with. and that is why tragically, decades later, victims are only now able to come forward. the final public hearings today. what happens after that? so this

goes on for the week. we understand this will be the final public hearing. so then there is six months 01’ so hearing. so then there is six months or so for the commission to write their report and recommendations to be presented by the end of the year. that then gets handed over to the straight in government to decide what to do that. but i think we already have a pretty good idea of what they will talk about, and that will be mandatory reporting compensation. —— australian government. there will be some kind of redress scheme for people who have kept this locked up inside them for many years, to get some sort of financial compensation. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: a teenage bloggerfrom singapore jailed twice for posting political and religious criticism online is granted asylum in the united states. also ahead: the bangladeshi army shoots two suspected islamist militants holed up in an apartment

block since friday. let there be no more war or bloodshed between arabs and israelis. so proud of both of you. with great regret the committee have decided that south africa be excluded from the 1970 competition. streaking across the sky, the white hot wreckage from mir drew gasps from onlookers in fiji. this is newsday on the bbc.

i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm babita sharma in london. our top stories: russia's main opposition leader has been arrested, along with hundreds of supporters, as anti—corru ption protests swept the country. beijing's favourite candidate, carrie lam, has become hong kong's new leader. pro—democracy activists have denounced the poll as a sham. australia is bracing for the worst cyclone in the country's northeast in several years. cyclone debbie has been forming off the coast of queensland state. more on that story at bbc.com/news. a teenage bloggerfrom singapore who was jailed twice for posting political and religious criticism online, has been granted asylum in the united states. amos yee was also accused

of insulting singapore's deeply respected former prime minister, lee kuan yew, when he posted a video online two years ago, comparing mr lee tojesus christ. mr yee has been detained in the us since he arrived last december. on friday, an immigrationjudge ruled in his favour. yee is now expected to be released shortly. the law firm which represented him praised the judge's decision. amos yee's lawyer, sandra grossman, spoke to us from bethesda, maryland and told us about his reaction to the ruling. 0bviously he was pleased with the decision. he has been detained now in the united states for longer than he was in singapore, awaiting the outcome of this decision, so he is definitely ready to have his freedom back again. now, we have heard an angry reaction from the singapore government. they say singapore takes a very different approach from the us. they insist that he was arrested in singapore not for his political beliefs, but for religious hate

speech, which is a crime here. what has been your reaction to that? well, let me just say, first of all, that i didn't represent amos yee, and i'm not here because i condone hate speech. i took this case pro bono at the request of human rights foundation, a very reputable organisation in new york, because this case was not about hate speech. and in fact the immigration judge found, based on the evidence, that amos yee was prosecuted in singapore as a pretext, under laws of general applicability, in this case wounding religious feelings. but the real goal of those laws were to silence his very critical dissent, and if you look at singapore's track record, this is the modus operandi of the government. now, the us government, though, the department of homeland security, they say yee's case did not qualify

as persecution based on political beliefs, and they have got about 30 days to appeal this decision for political asylum, granting him political asylum. so what is next for amos yee? well, let me just say that we have, obviously, different branches of government here, as in different countries. we have thejudiciary, we have the legislative branch, and of course we have the department of homeland security, and each branch has its role. and so the government of the united states argued, and correctly so, that governments have the right to prosecute their own citizens. nevertheless, these prosecutions turn into persecution when the laws are applied in a discriminatory way, and when the laws in and of themselves violate people's basic human rights, in this case the right to express yourself freely. so the government

took that position. they have every right to do so, but obviously the immigration judge, acting independently and based on the law, disagreed with them. now, the government has 30 days in which they can file an appeal. i do not have any information at this point to say whether they will or not. right, and briefly, sandra, do you think this is going to affect us—singapore relations? you know, the asylum laws are meant to protect individuals around the world. this is a very specific case. i would also like to note that obtaining asylum in the united states is a very difficult proposition. amos has been injail for more than 100 days. his hearing was contested, so, you know, singapore issued this statement about how this is going to kind of open the floodgates. i really don't think so. this is a very specific case. the bangladeshi army says troops

have shot dead two suspected islamist militants holed up in an apartment block since friday. a senior military official said more militants could still be in the five—storey building — which is in the north—eastern city of sylhet. at least six people were killed on saturday in two bombings close to the block. akbar hossain is in sylhet. this is believed to be the biggest anti—terror raid in bangladesh in recent years. army commanders are fighting against islamist militants. security officials say that they were on the lookout for this militant hideout for the last three months. six people, including two police officers, were killed in last night's explosion, targeting security forces. the so—called islamic state said it carried out the attack. the whole area has been cordoned off to avoid further casualties.

translation: we couldn't sleep for the last two nights, as powerful explosions rocked the whole area. our children are very scared. we cannot move out of our homes. we never thought that we were living beside a militant den. i am standing 300m away from the house where suspected islamic militants are holding up a strong position, for the last 72 hours. bangladesh's security forces, including army commanders, who joined the anti—terror operation, they are urging the militants to surrender, but the militants are responding with sustained gunshots and explosions. bangladesh has been facing the threat of islamist militancy for the last few years. more than 35 islamist militants have been killed in anti—terror operations conducted by the security forces. but this time, this is not going to be an easy victory for the security forces. army commanders have rescued 78 civilians from the house, but the operation is not over yet.

translation: two militants are within. we think there are more inside the building. we will continue our operation. many security analysts believe that bangladeshi islamist militants have a strong connection with the so—called islamic state. but the bangladesh government says that they are all home—grown. if it is proved that islamist extremists are responsible for the recent handful of suicide bombings, then it marks a new phase in bangladesh's fight against militancy. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. we'll hear from a couple of experts on what to look for, when collecting art. if only i had the money! and before we go, four white tigers have been born in a zoo in the central poland

on the first day of spring. these are the unusual white cubs — two females and two males. the mum, safran, and her 5—day—old cubes are doing well. white tigers are extremely rare and owe their appearance to a recessive gene. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. hello again. it is not often that we get the best of the weather over the weekend, but that seems to be the case this time round. on sunday, we had a temperature

of 20 degrees in highland scotland, aviemore, for example. but, for many of us on sunday, the skies were not quite as blue. we had some high cloud contaminating things. now, there is some cloud coming up from nearby france, but we are also filling in the north sea with low cloud, and it is that that is heading our way right now, particularly into parts of northern england, down into the midlands and wales. still got the high pressure in charge at the moment, and it is going to be pretty chilly, despite a bit more cloud. temperatures a bit lower across the southern half of the uk, where that stronger wind has now finally relented. any frost in the north will tend to lift fairly quickly, i think, across mainland scotland. one or two mist and fog patches, perhaps, but the sunshine coming through. a little bit more cloud by morning, perhaps, in northern ireland, and a change for england and wales, where we will start off a bit grey, misty and murky across the likes of north—east england, perhaps into the midlands and into east wales. this is the main area of low cloud, spilling in from the north sea. south of that, the odd patch of mist or low cloud, but some sunshine as well,

and most of us will see the sunshine burning through that cloud. it does take a while, though, where it has moved in off the north sea, and the odd patch may linger through into the afternoon, especially across the north—east of england and south—east scotland. so here, that low cloud will peg back the temperatures. 0therwise, with some sunshine, the numbers are similar to what we had on sunday. highest temperatures again in highland scotland, and this time in the south—east of england, where we don't have that cold, easterly wind. over the week ahead, though, we are going to find more cloud arriving, and the chance of some rain, especially in the north and west of the uk. but southerly winds, mind you, so still decent temperatures by day, and it won't be as cold at night, either. but the high pressure is shrinking away into the near continent. instead there is a massive area of low pressure out in the atlantic, and that will dominate our weather, to bring with it showers or longer spells of rain. and the first signs of rain really arrive on tuesday. a bit of a dull start, ahead of the showers moving into the south—west, wales, northern ireland, later the midlands, northern england, and eventually southern

scotland. north—east scotland still rather grey and cool, with the onshore breeze. maybe one or two showers in the south—east and east anglia, but some sunshine here as well, and this is where we will see the highest temperatures, and many places will be dry. and it could be that way again on wednesday. weather fronts coming in around that big area of low pressure threaten to bring more organised rain into the western side of the uk, but ahead of it, still largely dry and warm in the south—east. i'm babita sharma with bbc world news. our top story: russia has seen some of it's biggest protests in years with scuffles and hundreds of arrests. thousands of russians took part in anti—corruption rallies in defiance of the kremlin. the biggest protests were in moscow, where hundreds, including opposition leader, alexei navalny, have been detained. bejing's favourite candidate, carrie lam, has become hong kong's new leader. but pro—democracy activists are angry over how the poll was conducted, denouncing it as a sham. and this video is trending on bbc.com. it was a very warm and very

energetic welcome for chinese premier li keqiang who is in new zealand marking the 45th year of diplomatic relations between the two countries. you are up to date. stay with us. and the top story here in the uk: a 30—year—old man has been arrested in birmingham in connection with the westminster attack.