welcome to bbc news. i am sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines. as persecution of rohingya muslims intensifies, we ask the leader of myanmar if she is failing to stop ethnic cleansing. i don't think there is any ethnic cleansing going on. that is a strong expression to use for what is happening. the us signals a tough new start on syria after a chemical weapons attack that left 70 dead. i will tell you, it has already happened. my attitude towards syria and bashar al—assad has changed. the attack brings anger and condemnation to the un, but it is feared russia could be to demands foran is feared russia could be to demands for an investigation. two presidents come togetherfor for an investigation. two presidents come together for the for an investigation. two presidents come togetherfor the us— china summit. we will go to beijing to find out the concerns of the people.

is publicity always good? maybe not for pepsi after a controversial advertisement. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it is sam world news. it's newsday. good morning. it is 8am in singapore, iam in london, and 6:30am in myanmar we re in london, and 6:30am in myanmar were 70,000 rohingya muslims have fled persecution in the past six months. there are reports the national army has been responsible for mass killings and rape. aung san suu kyi has for many years been recognised as a champion for human rights, but more recently she has been accused of failing to confront the atrocities against the rohingya minority. she has given an exclusive interview to fergal keane.

it is a relic of the absurdity and paranoia of military rule, a capital marooned far from the people, designed to keep the generals safe, but where the new democratic government is trying to consolidate its hold on power. its leader, aung san suu kyi, has undergone a rapid transformation from pro—democracy icon. it's good to see you, a year later. a period of intense scrutiny and criticism. now, for the first time this year, she's agreed to a face—to—face interview. in terms of change in the lives of ordinary people, one of the things that's happened — it's happened in south africa, for example — is a massive sense of disappointment when a liberation movement comes into power. what have you done to make their lives better? you go through the whole list of things we have done, such as how many miles of roads and how many bridges and so many townships electrified. last year we started out by saying that, at the top of our priorities was job creation and we discovered, over this one year, that

if you start constructing all—weather roads and if you provide electrification, then people start creating jobs for themselves. there've been advances in healthcare and, critically, more free elections. but all of this has been overshadowed by the terror in rakhine state where tens of thousands of rohingya muslims have fled what human rights groups call ethnic cleansing. and about which aung san suu kyi has condemned for failing to speak out. what exactly is it that they're condemning? they want you to allow a un fact—finding mission into rakhine state. that is just now. that is just what they asked for last month. but what is that they have been condemning over the last year? many, many people, including those who would be sympathetic to you, look at the situation and say — why hasn't she spoken out? here's an icon of human rights.

what do you mean by "speaking out"? now, fergal, this question has been asked since 2013 when the troubles, the last round of troubles broke out in the rakhine, and they would ask me questions, and i would answer them and people would say i said nothing simply because i didn't make the kind of statements which they thought i should make, which is to condemn one community or the other. so what we're trying to go for is reconciliation, not condemnation. do you ever worry that you will be remembered as the champion of human rights, the nobel laureate who failed to stand up to ethnic cleansing in her own country? no, because i don't think there's ethnic cleansing going on. i think ethnic cleansing is too strong an expression to use for what's happening. it's what i think, as an outsider, i have to say. fergal, i think there's a lot of hostility there and, as i pointed outjust now, its muslims killing muslims as well, if they think that they are collaborating with the authorities. so it's notjust a matter

of ethnic cleansing, as you've put it, it's a matter of people on different sides of a divide. she remains the most popular politician here by a very long way and her goal remains to negotiate the military out of politics, with people power at her back and a steely interior determination. do you think that people in the west misjudged you or mischaracterised you or misunderstood you, expecting you to be this sort of amalgam of mahatma gandhi and mother teresa, for example? and, actually, maybe you're closer in your determination and steeliness to someone like margaret thatcher? well, no, i'mjusta politician. i'm not quite like margaret thatcher, no. but, on the other hand, i'm no mother teresa either. fergal keane, bbc news. our other top story, one of president trump's closest advisers, his chief strategist, steve bannon,

has been removed from his position on the us national security council. a senior official said mr bannon had only been given the position to oversee the work of the former national security adviser, michael flynn, who was subsequently sacked. gary o'donoghue has more from washington. i think this is the stamp of authority of the new national security adviser, hr mcmaster. we were talking about michael flynn, the former national security adviser. a couple of weeks before he had to be sacked over his connections to russia. the new guy took a couple of hits. he wanted to get rid of a couple of people, didn't manage it. now he is reasserting some of his control. having said that, steve bannon giving up his seat on what they call the principles committee of the security council isn't really much of a sacrifice because he is still at the president's right hand and still has his ear and is still central in terms of influence on his administration. he might not have a chair at the table with his name on it

at the nsc but he is still absolutely still part of donald trump's thinking and decision—making. also making the news this hour: a seventh man from central asia has been arrested in russia on suspicion of involvement in monday's attack on the metro in st petersburg. investigators said all those detained had been recruiting volunteers for militant islamist groups. but they said there was no evidence to link them with akbarzhonjalilov, the prime suspect in the bombing, which killed 14 people. women's rights activists in india have called for the scrapping of new police squads that the authorities say are meant to stop men harassing women. the so—called "anti—romeo" patrols have been set up in uttar pradesh. the activists say the squads were acting "aggressively" and outside the law. authorities have been been making widespread checks on men, sometimes arresting them. a service of hope and reconciliation has been held in westminster abbey in london, two weeks after the attack near the houses of parliament. the duke and duchess of cambridge and prince harryjoined families and the emergency services at the multi—faith service. khalid masood drove a car into pedestrians on westminster bridge, killing three people, and fatally stabbing

a police officer. president trump has described the gassing of dozens of people during an air raid in northern syria as an "affront to humanity." the us and other western powers have blamed president bashar al—assad's government for what they say was a chemical weapons attack on tuesday in the town of khan sheikhoun. mr trump said the death of children there had had a big impact on him, and it had "very much changed" his attitude towards mr assad. our correspondent, nick bryant, reports. five—year—old ibrahim went to bed in his spiderman pyjamas and woke up to the latest horror in syria's unending war. his grandmother was at his hospital bedside caring for ibrahim and his sister, tebba, because their father was killed in the attack. lives ended, lives ruined, by a toxic cloud that filled victims' lungs with poison.

translation: my grandchildren were sleeping. everyone woke up to a loud noise. they went outside and that's when they came across the chemical attack. they just fell to the floor and died. it's all too easy to become desensitised to the suffering of the syrian people, but consider the plight of abdul hamil al—yousf, he lost 20 members of his family, including his twin children, killed in a second explosion. translation: i left them in good health. why did this happen? i went to help other people and thought my children were 0k. now they are gone. yesterday, donald trump derided his predecessor barack obama for warning the assad regime that using chemical weapons crossed a red line, but not following through on that threat. but today, in the fragrant setting of the rose garden, he deployed similar language himself and signalled a change in thinking on syria. these heinous actions by the assad regime cannot be tolerated. my attitude towards syria and assad has changed very much. it crossed a lot of lines for me.

in an angry emergency session at the united nations security council, western nations pointed the finger of blame at the assad regime and also its diplomatic protectors here, russia, but moscow claimed that syrian rebels were to blame for the deaths. translation: the syrian air force conducted an air strike on the eastern edge of khan sheikhoun on a large warehouse of ammunition and military equipment. on the territory of that warehouse there was a facility to produce ammunition with the use of toxic weapons. but that prompted this electrifying moment of diplomatic theatre, the us ambassador, nikki haley, getting to herfeet and holding up graphic images of the dead. then, eye—balling her russian counterpart, she blasted moscow. if russia has the influence in syria that it claims to have,

we need to see them use it. we need to see them put an end to these horrific acts. how many more children have to die before russia cares? today, we saw the usual divisions at the security council, the usual deadlock over syria and the usual inability of the international community, even to agree about basic facts on the ground. this is the deadliest attack in syria in nearly four years and after that atrocity in 2013, the assad regime was supposed in the next few hours china's president xi jinping will travel to the united states for his first meeting with president trump, who had some very harsh words for china during his election campaign. people in both countries have their opinions on how the talks should go. the bbc‘s rajini vaidyanathan and stephen mcdonell took to the streets of washington

and beijing to find out more. camaraderie, cooperation, maybe let us off a little bit of our debt to them. shall we go down here? president trump likes to talk tough on china. throughout the election he promised to bring jobs back to the us and put america first. on the other hand, xijinping says that free trade is the answer and that this is what will bring jobs to china and the us. what do you think president trump should be saying to his chinese counterpart? i'm sorry. i apologise. i have been perhaps unfair to you. i'm one of those people who thinks we should make more here. they are not a true democracy. that's the worst thing about china. social repression.

who do you think gets the most out of it? definitely the us. whether they like it or not, when xijinping and donald trump are sitting across the table from one another, this is probably the world's most important connection. but it's notjust money and trade that drives the relationship. when it comes to climate change or getting north korea to contain its nuclear ambitions, america leads china. we will watch that meeting very closely. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme:

himalayan glaciers and the river ganges become "living entities" as part of efforts to protect them from pollution. pepsi apologises for "missing the mark" in an advert accused of mocking the black lives matter movement. 55 years of hatred and rage as theyjump on the statue. this funeral became a massive demonstration of black power, the power to influence. today is about the promise of a bright future, a day when we hope a line can be drawn under the bloody past. i think that picasso's works were beautiful, they were intelligent, and it is a sad loss to everybody who loves art.

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm babita sharma in london. our top stories: myanmar‘s de facto leader, aung san su kyi, has spoken to the bbc — defending her record over atrocities against the rohingya minority. president trump has called the deadly gas attack in syria an affront to humanity — and said it changed his view of bashar al—assad. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world.

let's start with the japan times — they are leading with north korea's latest missile test — the medium range missile landed in the sea ofjapan. the country's prime minister shinzo abe is said to be furious. but they're also headlining the chemical attack in syria — which has left dozens dead. the south china morning post have this image of all the rugby captains taking part in this week's sevens tournament in hong kong as their main picture story. but also making the headlines — president donald trump and the meeting with his chinese counterpart xi jinping — talking about applying more pressure on north korea to halt its missile tests and nuclear programme. the us version of the financial times is focusing on turkey — president erdogan is trying to win more kurdish support ahead of a referendum on constitutional reforms next week, which could see him gain wider reaching powers. now babita, what stories

are sparking discussions online? ivanka trump has given herfirst interview since formally joining the white house. speaking to a us network she insisted she can also disagree with her father with "total candor. " the 35—year—old businesswoman will become an unpaid federal employee, with the title of assistant to the president. that story is popular at bbc.com. as we've been hearing, china's president xi jingping is to meet donald trump at the mar—a—lago resort in florida. the meeting is eagerly awaited, but mr xi is no stranger to the us. he has a particular affinity with the state of iowa, as the bbc‘s barbara plett usher reports. muscatine, iowa, the pearl of the mississippi. it is an old industrial town in the american heartland, a brief stopping point for mark twain, and more recently for another famous visitor. xijinping has friends here.

he met them during an agricultural research trip as a young man, 30 years ago, and returned for a reunion shortly before he became president. this is the house where he stayed, and i think he hadn't home—stayed before. the chinese leader got a taste of american life by staying with a local family. then the bedroom was filled with star trek toys. now, the house has been turned into a museum aimed at promoting us—china ties. ithink xijinping has great presence. and when he comes in the room, shakes his hand, you know, i believe donald trump... i hate to say this, but this is a guy i could make a deal with. we can't continue to allow china to rape our country... donald trump's brand is bashing china, particularly on trade. they have taken ourjobs... could a dose of iowa fix that? maybe president trump, i think,

maybe needs some time to know more about china. may be donald trump needs to visit muscatine? yes, he will know the story about muscatine to china. i think he will have good interest. the story is bigger than friendship. it is business. there is no trade deficit in iowa. it exports a lot to china, especially agricultural products. this town and this state voted for donald trump, but that doesn't mean iowa buys his approach to china. here, they see china as a business opportunity, not a threat. in fact, this state does so much trade with china that it would have a lot to lose if mr trump starts a trade war. there is no sense of uncertainty here, a family—run business pounding out steel stands for more than 100 years. but the new owner has branched out to tap new markets, now looking vulnerable to trade disputes.

i am concerned about it. i think the chance of that happening on a large scale is pretty small, so i don't lose a lot of sleep over it. obviously i am exporting a lot of goods to china, and i know the import taxes i pay on products going on, so i do think there needs to be some rebalancing. rebalancing a complex relationship will take more than cornfield diplomacy. barbara plett—usher, bbc news, iowa. a court in india has recognised himalayan glaciers, lakes and forests, as well as two of the country's holiest rivers, as ‘living entities'. it's part of efforts to protect them from environmental degradation. the move effectively gives them legal protection against pollution. here's the story. pepsi has announced it's discontinued a controversial advert starring the model kendalljenner and apologised for ‘missing the mark‘ as they put it.

viewers had complained that the video undermined the black lives matter movement. pepsi said they were trying to project a ‘global message of unity, peace and understanding'. elaine dunkley reports. # we are the chosen. # we're going to shine... it's a global brand that's caused a global backlash. # we are the lions. # we are the chosen. supermodel kendalljenner handing a can of pepsi to a police officer during a protest. pepsi says the message was about harmony, but it's caused outrage on social media. they've basically set this advert in a protest situation. donald trump just got elected, black lives matter‘s just fresh of the boat. i think people have a right to be upset because essentially pepsi's just gone out and said "with a can of pepsi we can fix and heal the world," and that's just not true. in america, this is the reality of protests. anger and arrests, not soft drinks and supermodels. in baton rouge, louisiana last year,

there was widespread unrest following the shooting of a black man, alton stirling, by police. critics say pepsi have tried to replicate this iconic image from the protest, and it's in bad taste. i'm tired of black pain being used for commercial gain. it made no sense and it was a parody, basically, of some serious situations. i'm wondering if they even have an inclusive and diverse board of advisors, because if anybody who saw that before it went out... they would know that that was just inappropriate and disrespectful. they say any publicity is good publicity. ad agencies are constantly trying to push the boundaries. but how far is too far? when you trivialise it or make a scene, like, just that everybody in a melting pot kind of thing, i don't know if they're really about the issues or if they're just trivialising the whole thing. probably bigger problems

in the world, isn't there? but i think when you say insulting... it's insulting in that, you know, there are serious problems in the world and pepsi have used the problems to try and give them some value. # we are the chosen... bowing to pressure, pepsi has now pulled the advert and apologised. it's cost the company hundreds of thousands of pounds, but it's a drinks campaign which has fallen flat, and the cost to pepsi's reputation could be even greater. elaine dunkley, bbc news. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. we report from delhi on efforts to clean up the construction sector so that people can get on the property ladder. and before we go, time to tell you that a zoo in virginia has welcomed notjust one but two litters of cheetah cubs. five were born on march 23rd, and another seven cubs came along just a few days later. sadly two of the cubs

in the second litter died — which is apparently common among large litters. the typical size of a cheetah litter is just three — so this was quite an unusual event. it's good to see the ten remaining cubs are in good health. hello there. the weather story is pretty quiet for the next few days. a lot of dry weather, variable cloud, some sunshine, and generally light winds as well. it is all because of high pressure. now, during the course of the night, most places will be dry, maybe a little bit of light rain across the north—west of scotland. more of a breeze here. where you have the cloud, relatively mild, 7—9 degrees. where the skies clear, cool, and a touch of frost in some rural places, so a quiet looking start to thursday. most of us will be seeing light winds, but across the north, high pressure. in towards northern and western scotland, more of a strong, north—westerly breeze. that will fit in quite a lot

of cloud to the northern isles. west scotland, some drizzle, with the east of scotland potentially seeing some shelter, so you could be seeing some breaks and some sunshine. variable cloud, maybe a bit of sunshine for northern england. i think much of wales and england, variable cloud and some sunny spells. i think probably the best of the sunshine in south wales and the south—west of england, where we could make 15 or 16 degrees. on friday, a similar story. light winds, variable cloud and also some sunshine. the high pressure is with us for thursday and friday, but it moves position as we head towards the weekend. this is pretty crucial, because we then start to pull a southerly wind off the near continent. it is dry air, and eventually it will be warmer air, particularly as we head on into sunday. notice the blue colours behind me, though. this is an approaching weather front, a cool mass of air which will arrive across the far north—west of the country as the weekend wears on. so i think, for saturday, probably a greater chance of seeing more sunshine around. temperatures up just that little bit. 15, 16, maybe 17 celsius.

more cloud, though, across the north—west of the country. it is looking pretty good for the grand national, as well. aintree, a lot of dry weather, temperatures around the mid—teens celsius. on sunday, that weather front approaches scotland. strengthening winds, and feeling quite cool, outbreaks of rain. but for england and wales it is looking much sunnier, because we are pulling down to warmerand drierairoff the near continent. it is going to be really warm, temperatures in the low 20s celsius. we could make 23 degrees across the south—east. so the main message for the next few days — because of high pressure, it is going to be largely dry, with light winds. there will be some sunshine around. it is going to get warmer this weekend, especially on sunday. like i mentioned, that weatherfront with the cold air behind it spreads its way southwards during monday. so a cloudy, cool day generally. temperatures in the north struggling to get much above eight or nine degrees. still fairly mild in the south—east. i'm babita sharma with bbc world news. our top story: aung san suu kyi has told the bbc she rejects criticism over her handling of the rohingya muslims crisis. the de facto leader of myanmar has denied international accusations

that she's been standing by as rohingya muslims are ethnically cleansed by the army in rakhine state. president trump has called the deadly gas attack in syria on tuesday an affront to humanity and said it changed his view on bashar al—assad. russia says syria is not to blame. and this video is trending on bbc.com. pepsi says it's discountinued a controversial advert, starring the model, kendalljenner, and apologised for "missing the mark" as they put it. critics said the video undermined the black lives matter movement. that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news. and the top story here in the uk: relatives of those killed in the westminster terror attack havejoined members of the royal family at a "service