i'm marika ora i'm marika era in i'm marika or a in singapore, the headlines. russia is in mourning after 11 people are killed in st petersburg. the prime minister calls ita petersburg. the prime minister calls it a terrorist attack. translation: there was a huge bang. it was deafening. i was sitting next to an metal railing and i think it save my life. everyone was knocked in one direction by the blast. a year after china abandoned its one child policy, we report on the rise of older mothers giving birth with the aid of fertility treatment. iam babita i am babita sharma in london. ben speight to find more survivors as ioo speight to find more survivors as 100 remained missing in columbia's devastating landslide. and as trump continues to host leaders from the asia—pacific, we ask americans in new york about a trump, asia alliance. lighterfrom our studios

lighter from our studios in singapore and london. this is bbc world news. its newsday. good morning. it's 7am here in singapore, midnight in london and two in the morning in st petersburg where an explosion on the metro in the russian city has killed 11 people and injured at least 15 more. the blast coincided with a visit by president putin to the city. the prime minister has condemned the incident as a terrorist attack but other possible causes are being investigated. the explosion happened ina train investigated. the explosion happened in a train travelling between the technology institute stations. another device was found and made

safe at a nearby station. we have this report. a woman is shouting, "are there any children?". a train carriage torn to shreds and a desperate effort to pull people from the wreckage. from the safety of a passing train, a hint of the devastation it is leaving behind. at least ten passengers were killed today and dozens more wounded. the blast occurred in the tunnel but the wrecked train sped on and managed to reach the next station. this was the scene one stop behind. the platform filled with thick, choking smoke and the stench of explosives. translation: there was a huge bang, it was deafening. i was sitting next to a metal railing and i think it saved my life. everyone was knocked in one direction by the blast. the emergency services were on the scene fast. and from this underground hell, the wounded were helped to the surface and to safety. adding to their physical injuries

was a deep sense of shock. a spokesman for russia's antiterrorism committee said the train had been blown up by an unknown explosive device. special units of the security forces, he said, were being despatched. the st petersburg metro went into emergency lockdown. all passengers evacuated, all stations closed and searched. later it was revealed there was an explosive device discovered at another metro station in st petersburg. this one was made safe. a confirmation that today's explosion was deliberate. vladimir putin was in st petersburg today. his meeting of the president of belarus overshadowed by the tragedy across town. the police and special services would do all they could to find the cause of what happened, president putin said, and he promised support for the families of the victims. russia says this

was an act of terror. so, who carried it out? russia has made enemies with its bombing campaign in syria. in recent years, the country has been targeted by islamist terrorists. in 2015, a plane carrying russian holidaymakers was blown up over sinai, killing 217 passengers and crew. so—called islamic state said it planted the bomb. the russian president vladimir putin visited the metro station where the bombed train had ended its journey and paid his respects. for the victims of this attack, st petersburg has declared three days of mourning. the metro is the lifeblood of this city. an act of terror on a train has left people here fearing more violence. let's stay with this now. we have at

professor of political science that joins us now from boston. firstly, tell me why you think russia was targeted in what we think may be a suspected terrorist attack. well, it's really easy and maybe terret —— tempting to blame russia's activity in syria to blame this. remember when the russian ambassador to turkey was killed, the shooter said this was payback for allertova. maybe vengeance is at play. —— aleppo. it is also important to point out that russia has rather consistently been a juicy target for islamist terrorists long before its 2015 intervention in syria. the attacks against the train station in the subway, we have seen before,

several times. in 2013, 2010, 2009, 2004. in that several times. in 2013, 2010, 2009, 200a. in that sense, i think we should be cautious on pinning it just on syria. it really could have happened, even in the absence of russian intervention. what will russia's steps be now, do you think? i think that russia will probably be reinforced to do even more against syria, to be even more committed to the assad regime and to help that regime as much as possible, go after not just islamic regime as much as possible, go after notjust islamic state but islamic state is in the process of imploding. ithink state is in the process of imploding. i think more and more, russia will go after other groups there. the al qaeda affiliates group and the groups that work alongside of al qaeda affair. in the idlib

area, for example. furthermore, i think that there will probably be even more crackdowns at home, maybe we will see some incursions into the north caucasus area. i think it will depend on what we learn about the nature of this attacker and we still don't really know much about them. that will probably play a role in dictating the next steps. professor, we welcome your time with us, thank you. president trump has declared his strong support for the leadership of his egyptian counterpart, abdel fattah el—sisi. mrtrump said he counterpart, abdel fattah el—sisi. mr trump said he will work with cairo to fight islamist militants. he says that to abdel fattah el—sisi has done a fantasticjob in a difficult situation. south korea follows to an election. the man

tipped to be the next president has formally been nominated. moonjae—in has been seen to take a softer line on north korea. china has announced it wants 80% of its citizens to speak its dominant dialect of mandarin within the next year. 0nly us percentage of people speak mandarin. spectacular pictures to show you now. this is south korea with this tallest building officially opened in seoul. to add company it, an enormous fireworks display from the skyscraper if self, also alongside music. also there was a simultaneous laser show. we were told that around 30 rounds of fireworks lit up sol‘s night sky.

quite a sight. —— seoul. 0n on thursday, a high—stakes meeting is taking place between president trump and president xi. just days before the meeting, president trump has insisted the us will deal with north korea alone if china fails to help. what does that mean for a america's partners in the region such as japan and south korea? in a moment, we will be getting the opinion of an expert but first, we have been asking asian—americans in new york what they make of trump's attitude to asia. so what will the allies think of president trump's promised to deal with north korea alone? although he has come out the gate fighting, he seems to believe that china has the ability to basically change north korean puzzle that policy. we have seen lots of

evidence that that is not the case. china is terrified that north korea will collapse and 25 and the people will collapse and 25 and the people will move across the border. they would rather seek stability in the area. it is not clear that there is area. it is not clear that there is a military response given that china next door. that north korea is heavily dependent on china economically so it is president trump right to ask or pressure china to put extra pressure onjohn young? in terms of the past, china has already done a lot. —— pyongyang. it is not clear it can do much more because if it creates chaos in north korea, that will only hurt it. one of the features of trump is it takes things at a bit of a gallop without understanding the details will stop it is hoped that wiser counsel will prevail because the last thing we

would need is a crisis. of course there are other countries in the region which are involved, including japan and south korea. if trump follows through on his statement, what does it mean for the rest of asia? i think asia's quite nervous on trump. china is the made leading economic policy in asia mainly because of 0bama stepping back. japan would be worried about this. 0ne japan would be worried about this. one of the challenges is that we don't really know what trump thinks because his policies are stated during the election are a curious nature of aggression and isolationism. let's hope, if we look at previous meetings a lot of rhetoric has ended up with a fairly anodyne set of discussions. let's hope that that happens. you are watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme. you

have heard of meals on wheels but wait until you meet the man who can spin new apollo on his bike. —— spin you upa spin new apollo on his bike. —— spin you up a poem. the accident that happened here was of the sort that can at worst produce a meltdown. in this case the precautions worked, but they didn't work quite well enough to prevent some old fears about the safety features of these stations from resurfacing. the republic of ireland has become the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace. from today, anyone lighting up in offices, businesses, pubs and restaurants will face a heavy fine. the president was on his way out of the washington hilton hotel, where he had been addressing a trade union conference. the small crowd outside included his assailant. it has become a symbol of paris. 100 years ago, many parisians wished

it had never been built. the eiffel tower's birthday is being marked by a re—enactment of the first ascent by gustave eiffel. welcome back the newsday on the bbc. yes, thanks forjoining us. let's bring you up—to—date with the headlines: that russia is in mourning after an explosion on a metro train station in st petersburg kills 11 people and injures dozens more. president putin has laid flowers at a makeshift shrine to the victims. the russian prime minister said the blast is a terrorist act. and one of the most read stories on bbc .com: the exciting discovery of

the remains of an asian pyramid in egypt just south of the capital cairo, believed to have been built 3700 years ago — it is hoped excavation work will reveal more and establish the size of the pyramid. well, let's take a look at the front pages from around the world and we start with the singapore's straits times as it covers the st petersburg metro explosion, quoting the interfax newsagency, which says it might have been caused by an explosive device hidden in a briefcase. 0nto the japan times, reporting on president trump's comments on north korea, saying it will act alone if china fails to help, just days before president trump host the chinese president, ji xinping, at his estate in florida. finally, the south china morning post, dominated by a picture on the

front page of chickens, and says hong kong will continue to sell live poultry despite the threat of bird flu. now, what stories are sparking discussions online,? well, this social media post in taiwan is viral, i love this, a user revealed his grandmother was using a louis vuitton handbag to carry fish. this is what happened — the grandmother didn't realise it was so iconic and greeted her grandson with a bag of groceries and fish. the famous handbag is highly prized around the world and retails for about $1100 us. her grandson didn't have the heart to tell her what he intended it for and said she was happy with herfish. now, more than 250 people are confirmed to have died in the colombian city of mocoa, which was devastated on friday by a landslide.

families and friends of the dickens have begun to bury loved ones. there isa have begun to bury loved ones. there is a continued search for the victims although the likelihood of finding survivors is fading —— victims. the bbc‘s laura bicker reports from mocoa. just near here as we were coming into the town there is a huge queue outside the cemetery with people with masks on because that is where they have the tough task of trying to identify their loved ones. the search and rescue teams have been working tirelessly to try to find anyone who may be left in the mud. but four days many of them have been tearing at the mud with their hands. it is now a co—ordinated effort, but with each hour that goes by, i am sorry to say, the chances of finding anyone alive diminishes. this is one of the worst natural disasters, colombian has seen and it is an area

very well used to disasters. the mountain you can hopefully see behind me, there are five rivers coming together and they have an unprecedented amount of rainfall. president santos is visiting here. his third day in a row. he is trying to talk to people here who are coming to terms with death who now need to prepare themselves for the prospect of disease. they are handing out sanitation kits to try to prevent the spread of disease caused as you drive into the town the smell is horribly overpowering. so as you can imagine this is a town trying to come to terms with death and now has a more difficult prospect as they try to bury their loved ones and come to terms with their loss. it has been just over a year since china abandoned its controversial one child policy because of concerns about its increasing elderly population. well it appears to have the desired effect with 18 million births last year, an increase of 8% on 2015, and

nearly half of those births were to mothers who already have at least one child, and as alcoa is on at reports, there has been a rush of older mothers who stored their embryos after fertility treatment and working to have biggerfamilies. —— our correspondent. heartbeat of an imminent arrival. they last of soundscan for a 48—year—old mother—to—be. —— the last ultrasound scan. she had her last ultrasound scan. she had her last child through fertility treatment 16 years ago. the hospital kept her frozen embryos and now that china's1—china policy has become a two child policy, she is about to have her second miracle baby. more good news for this woman, it is a boy. she tells me she is thrilled.

she has got a daughter already and would be happy with another. but the in—laws want a grandson. a two child family is still a great novelty here, so a big fuss at the cleaning for a special visitor. —— clinic. especially as this miracle was conceived here in a petri—dish and frozen as an embryo for years. that until china's policy changed and she could become somebody‘s little sister. translation: as soon as i heard about the policy change, i was terribly excited. i ran to the hospital immediately. my second child had been frozen there for too long. i couldn't wait to take a home. not everyone is so lucky. this woman is desperate to have a second charlotte but there are questions

over whether her embryos are viable —— second child. over whether her embryos are viable -- second child. i only have three embryos -- second child. i only have three e m b ryos left -- second child. i only have three embryos left and the doctor says one is good, one is average and one is poor, but i am staying optimistic. i hope heaven will give me this gift. blessings born from frozen embryos, many of them second children after last yea r‘s many of them second children after last year's policy change. 0lder mothers with fertility problems are 110w mothers with fertility problems are now suddenly at an advantage because they have frozen embryos to fall back on, where are the older women don't. this woman is back home and getting ready for the new arrival. baby getting ready for the new arrival. ba by clothes getting ready for the new arrival. baby clothes from the first time around 16 years ago. hospital bag ready for the birth and she has already decided if the two child policy becomes a three child policy

she will go for a third. carrie gracie, bbc news. now, matthias civilina rides his bike for good reasons and also writes poetry, he has combined into a job writes poetry, he has combined into ajob and is writes poetry, he has combined into a job and is travelling the us writing dreams for customers and delivering them directly to their door. the bbc caught up with him in richmond virginia. this is the one thing i am good at. i have a very limited skills at which involves writing repetitive brief surrealist narratives and biking for long distances. 0ne brief surrealist narratives and biking for long distances. one of the nice things about writing dreams is that the tropes that would seem

awful in writing realist narrative are fine. so, then suddenly at penguin walk singh to the room, you know, it is in a jack region novel not going to work. but in a dream text perfectly acceptable —— jack reacher. penguins are allowed to walk into your room at any point in a dream. so, this past month i had 47 subscribers and my intention every morning was to write 47 unique dreams every day. sometimes i don't get there. i double up and some people dream the same dream. everyone's in a while i will run into a subscriber who has woken up at 5am for some reason and we will run into each other on the porch and they don't want to see me and i

don't want to see them and i think i forget oftentimes that there are people who are going to be reading them and it becomes this completely insular world where i am making up as much weirder stuff as i can every day and scattering it out like a johnny appleseed of oddity. i wanted to find a way to make the writing the primary focus of what i'm doing with my life. i didn't want to be part of a university. and it is sort of the way that a lot of artists in america are taught, this is how you do your life, you do your art, that is nice, then yourjob that you spend 80 hours a week on his administration for an academic department. you've been watching newsday on the bbc. i am marie curie in singapore. iam babita bbc. i am marie curie in singapore. i am babita sharma bbc. i am marie curie in singapore. iam babita sharma in bbc. i am marie curie in singapore. i am babita sharma in london —— 0i. you might not recognise this but actually you are looking at a low

la nt street actually you are looking at a low lant street kenrick butt. morning. we have got some rain working in from the west but before we ta ke working in from the west but before we take a look at that lets look back at some of the highlights of monday. a beautiful weather watchers picture sent in from cambridgeshire. a lovely afternoon and we saw highs of 18 degrees. but the storm clouds gathered in argyll and bute. a very atmospheric shot here. that is because the rain arrived from the west. now, it is fairly fragmented and it is moving somewhat erratically eastwards over the next few hours, perhaps sitting towards dawn in the south—east corner. behind it some clearer skies, a fresh start to the day across scotla nd fresh start to the day across scotland and northern ireland. more clabo into the south—west and for wales, the odd spot or two of rain still at eight o'clock in the

morning. the bulk of the rain probably sitting across the south coast into 0xfordshire, east anglia and the south—east corner. but even then it will be fairly light and well fragmented. further north we get a lot of cloud, early—morning mist and get a lot of cloud, early—morning mistand murk get a lot of cloud, early—morning mist and murk perhaps, decent spells of sunshine for northern ireland and scotland, more of a breeze to the north and west and that could continue to drift in on one or two showers to the north and western isles and the wind willjust take the edge of things i suspect, especially on exposed coast. the sunshine will breakthrough across north—west england, wales and the south—west by the end of the day. perhaps just the midlands and eastern england which will stay quite cloudy and again with the odd spot or two of rain. and temperatures are little subdued into the south—east. highs of around 15 degrees. elsewhere, eight to 13 or 14 degrees. elsewhere, eight to 13 or 1a as the daytime maximum. if you are heading to the premier league matches in the evening i don't think you will be disappointed with the story, 8pm kickoff, so it will be dark but not cold at eight — 10

degrees. a similar story, it could be windy in scotland, so that will make it chilly, but it will be dry and that is the most important thing. high pressure stays with us through the middle of the week. weather fronts toppling over the top of that high and it will continue to stay quite windy in scotland. in fa ct, stay quite windy in scotland. in fact, on wednesday week could see gales, may be severe gales, to the extreme north, and a scattering of showers, some of them quite heavy as well, into the far north—west. elsewhere, decent spells of sunshine, a little bit of fair weather cloud bubbling up through the afternoon and temperatures pegged a little but nevertheless eight to 1a degrees the high, all in all, not too bad. at a similar story for the end of the working week, first aid into friday, relatively sunny, a little bit of cloud into the afternoon. you are watching bbc world news. russia is in mourning after a suspected terrorist attack kills 11 people. more than a0 others were

injured in an explosion in a train station in st petersburg. another home—made device was disabled. president putin has laid flowers at a makeshift shrine to the victims. he said all causes was being investigated. this is tory is trending. south korea's tallest building, the one to three story. world tower has officially opened in seoul with a truly fantastic fireworks display and laser show. seoul's night sky was lit up. stay with us, plenty more to come. i will be back with the headlines in half an hour but here it on abc