i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: as a us navy strike force sails to korea, donald trump tells his advisers to be prepared for the next step in dealing with the north korean nuclear threat. egypt's president sisi declares a three—month state of emergency following two bomb attacks on coptic churches, in which more than a0 people died. i'm babita sharma in london. a sex—selective abortions racket is uncovered in india. too late for one father, whose daughter was forced to have a termination. the chinese president returns home, but what has xi jinping achieved during his meeting with president trump? you go through so much in india as pa rents to you go through so much in india as parents to bring her up and have her married. but what is the use if this is the end? live from our studios in singapore

and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 6am in singapore, ii at night in london, and 6pm in the evening in washington, where president trump has asked his advisers to be prepared to give a full range of options to deal with the nuclear threat coming from north korea. a us navy strike group is already heading towards the korean peninsula. the us national security adviser said the deployment was prudent, and criticised north korea as a rogue, nuclear—armed nation. david campa nale reports. the carl vincent strike group, an aircraft carrier, a guided missile cruiser, and others, had been due to visit australia. instead, it is

going full steam to the western pacific ocean, where it recently conducted exercises with the south korean navy. as well as massive strike power, the carrier group has the ability to intercept ballistic missiles. president trump made it clear to beijing last week that he is prepared to act alone against pyongyang is necessary. the decision to send missiles to syria a reminder of his result. if you violate international agreements and failed to live up to commitments, you become a threat to other countries, and at some point, responsible action has to be taken. north korea's most recent rocket test, condemned by south korea and japan, came on the eve of china's president's visit to america. and it followed for ballistic missile is fired was sea of japan a month followed for ballistic missile is fired was sea ofjapan a month ago.

—— missiles. it is clear that their programme is moving forward. each test shows it is rockets can go very far, with established technology capable of striking of us military assets and allies in the region. but this system goes further, underlying mobility to put crude satellites into or go further than orbit. pyongyang says it is allowed to do this. the fear is that they will have a nuclear warhead soon capable of reaching mainland america. pyongyang says it has been provoked by military exercises by the us and south korea, which it sees as preparation for an invasion. as tensions rise, the arrival of china's nuclear envoy in south korea made bring about six party talks, and further the role of diplomacy in

solving the crisis. david campanale, bbc news. our other top story: the egyptian president, abdul fatah al—sisi, has announced a state of emergency, following two bomb attacks that killed at least 45 people. the so—called islamic state group has claimed responsibility for the attacks on two coptic churches north of cairo. a short time ago, the president gave this televised speech. translation: several steps are to be taken, the first of which will be a declaration of a state of emergency for three months in egypt. we are announcing this only to protect our country and the security of it. also making news. unicef is calling on the myanmar government to release rohingya children from detention. the un agency says about a dozen minors were jailed as part of a military crack down on the muslim minority group in rakhine state. nearly 75,000 people have fled the region since october. indian and chinese warships have come together to stop pirates hijacking a timber ship in the gulf of aden. the vessel you can see

in foreground of this photo, put out a distress signal off the coast of yemen on saturday. there were no injuries and the ship is now heading to an unnamed destination under escort. it's the third hijacking in recent weeks after a five—year lull. south korea has moved the capsized sewol ferry onto land, nearly three years after it sank. 304 people were killed in the disaster, most of them children. nine people remain missing. the ferry, was structurally unsound, overloaded andtravelling too fast on a turn when it capsized in april 2014. according to us media reports, donald trump's deputy—national security adviser, kt mcfarland, has been asked to step down. ms mcfarland, who previously worked for fox news, had been in thejob just three months. it's reported that she's been offered the role of ambassador to singapore instead. and now an update from the final round of the masters tournament in georgia. british golfer, justin rose, is looking a good fit for the green jacket.

we will keep you updated as soon as we know the winner. let's get more details on that move by the us ordering a navy strike group to move towards the korean peninsula, amid growing concerns about north korea's missile and nuclear weapons programmes. go myong—hyun is a research fellow at the asan institute for policy studies in seoul. he explained the message that he believes washington is sending to pyongyang. it definitely sends a strong signal to north korea. it clearly shows that the united states is ready to intervene in north korea. this is a clear difference to the predecessor of donald trump, which did not want to cross the red line in syria because it was worried about engaging in yet another war in the middle east. but donald trump has a

different approach to syria. it is similar with north korea. donald trump is ready to engage in yet another war in north korea which makes the threat of us intervention more credible. much more evident by the aircraft carrier and these warships headed to the korean peninsula. how are america's allies responding to this in the region? this is a sign to allies in the region, mainly south korea and japan. if you check the comments by donald trump last year, donald trump was actually very political and critical of the allies in southeast asia, criticising them for not acting in their own self defence and the defence of others. he said both allies, south korea and japan, could go nuclear. that has raised fears in these countries that the us was willing to bring about a nuclear

umbrella. so with these joint exercises and this strike group, it is quite reassuring to allies. use a reassuring, but of course, china is a big part of this whole equation. —— you say. this was one of the topics when xijinping —— you say. this was one of the topics when xi jinping met with donald trump last week. is very likely to be a resumption of six—party talks? likely to be a resumption of six-party talks? that is quite unlikely for now. —— is there likely. china agreed the threat by north korea is quite serious this time. china even said that they want to bring north korea closer to denuclearisation. but talks have not produced results. ithink

denuclearisation. but talks have not produced results. i think this crisis, north korea would have to ta ke crisis, north korea would have to take some steps for these talks to come about. for generations, india has battled to put an end to sex—selective abortions. although it's illegal for doctors to reveal the gender of babies during pregnancy, it's estimated that 600,000 baby girls are aborted every year. the issue is in the spotlight once again after a grim discovery in the western state of maharashtra. yogita limaye has this report from sangli. a horrifying discovery. the remains of tiny foetuses were found here and a —— under soft mud. i9 of tiny foetuses were found here and a —— under soft mud. 19 of them castaway. it all came to light after

this woman was found after a botched abortion. her family says this woman was found after a botched abortion. herfamily says her husband forced her to do it because she was pregnant with a girl. they complained to the police and it uncovered this abortion racket. translation: my daughter will not come back but at least these things will stop happening if some action is taken. as parents of a girl in india, you go through so much to bring up your daughter and get her married. but what is the use if this is the end? police have so far arrested more than a dozen people including the husband of the woman, and three doctors. translation: during our interrogation, we discovered that there are four men engaged in the racket, and at least one of these doctors was terminating 2-3 one of these doctors was terminating 2—3 pregnancies every week based on the sex of them. this is the

hospital where some of the abortions allegedly took place. finding out the gender of an unborn child is illegal here in india, and there is tough punishment for offenders, which includes time in prison. yet centres which have sex determination technology continue to thrive in many parts of the country. and that is because there is great demand for them despite government campaigns to save the female child. translation: the mindset in india is that a girl isa the mindset in india is that a girl is a liability. is a female child is born, then the family knows it will have to collect money to give as dowry in her wedding. —— if. have to collect money to give as dowry in herwedding. —— if. so pa rents dowry in herwedding. —— if. so parents think that instead of raising a daughter, nurturing and educating her, and then paying a larger map to get her married, they are better off aborting her. —— large dowry. laws have very little effect on the ground. for many daughters of india, there are battles at every stage, and some

don't even get a chance to fight. bbc news. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the annual haze here in singapore. it's not only unpleasant, new research shows it leads to an increased number of heart attacks. also on the programme: a scheduled flight, an unscheduled delivery, and an extra passenger on landing. the cabin crew turned midwives on a turkish airlines flight. 55 years of hatred and rage, as theyjump up 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's 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: as a us navy strike group heads towards korea, donald trump prepares to review options for dealing with the north korean nuclear threat. egypt's president sisi has declared a three—month state of emergency following two bomb attacks on coptic

churches in which more than a0 people died. marvel comics have disciplined an indonesian artist after he was accused of inserting political and religious messages into his drawings for the x—men series. over the weekend, readers began pointing out how some pages in the debut issue for x—men gold featured references to a case involving the governor of jakarta. that story is popular on bbc.com in indonesia. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the south china morning post is one of several to lead on the deployment of a us navy strike group to the korean peninsula. "closer to the brink of accidental conflict". that's the verdict of one chinese expert on international relations. the business times has an interesting story about singapore's cutting—edge catering industry. it's predicting the next big thing

could be 3—d printing using edible ingredients. the china daily features president xi jin ping's visit to the us, which it says set a constructive tone. but its main story is this eye—catching picture of tourists in hebei province in northern china. it says the area's about to become an economic powerhouse, that's all thanks to a new business area. now, sharanjit, what stories are sparking discussions online? celebrations for a 16th century warlord injapan are getting lots of attention on bbc.com. over 1,000 people dressed up as samurai warriors paraded through kofu in centraljapan as part of an annual festival. the parade takes place around the anniversary of the death of takeda shinge and includes a re—enactment of the warrior preparing to lead his troops into battle. the parade through the streets of kofu in yamanashi prefecture is part of the annual festival that takes place around the anniversary of the death of takeda shingen.

the chinese president xijinping has returned home after an official visit to the united states. the fanfare over the 24—hour summit was overshadowed by another pressing foreign policy issue, the us response to a deadly poison gas attack in syria. so what was achieved during president xi's visit? the bbc‘s chinese service reporter martin yip has more from hong kong. there are still sketchy details about what actually happened in the talks themselves but what i can tell you is the state press in china has been trying to shy away from the fa ct been trying to shy away from the fact that donald trump, president trump it, has launched this air strike on syria pretty much in the middle of his banquets with president xi. they are saying lines like this one from the china daily

like this one from the china daily like the whole two—day summit has gone as well as it could after so many confusing signals from washington. referring to all the tweets and comments from president trump that we had since he was elected in november that he would deal with china on trade and all other issues. it doesn't mean that manufacturers in china aren't feeling it, they want to know more and they are speculating on what might happen. there's a comment here from someone saying china should wa ke from someone saying china should wake up because the states has been accused of this opportunity to bomb syria and telling the world that china is nothing, they don't need to worry about china at all. so there are some sentiments or resentment among chinese ministers about why china didn't get tough on trump.

often is the way, martin, after these summits, we often hear about trade deals negotiated coming up between companies in the next few weeks or so, that being the primary point, the trade deals china and us can get to a point of announcing, big deals? we're still waiting for any big deals news, although from the talks itself, donald trump wants to ease up the trade deficit with china, that's for sure. and what we know for now there's a 100 day plan where they will try to sort out differences between the two sides and they are trying to strike these notes of friendliness, that they will talk to each other, china and us relations will still progress forward , us relations will still progress forward, there will still be trade between the two countries. although there might be more people who want to see if donald trump is really going to take action on what he promised himself, calling china a

currency manipulator, he did not a p pa re ntly currency manipulator, he did not apparently in this talk with president xijingping. apparently in this talk with president xi jingping. he's apparently in this talk with president xijingping. he's going to visit china anyway in some time, he has accepted this invitation. so will there be trade deals from there? that is what we can still expect. martin yip speaking to the beta earlier. the dry season here in southeast asia betweenjune and october often brings haze pollution when fires are lit to clear land in indonesia and malaysia. smoke from the forest often blows across the sea and wafts across singapore and the wider region. we already know that the haze is particularly taxing on the young, the elderly and those with heart conditions or breathing problems. but research conducted by singapore general hospital has found that the haze in singapore is contributing to an increase in heart attacks. joining me now is doctor marcus ong, senior author of the study and senior consultant at sgh's department of emergency medicine. welcome to the programme. this is

quite groundbreaking, this report, tell us about the significance. thanks, sharanjit. this is the first large asian study to show a direct correlation between a pollution and the incidence of out of hospital cardiac arrest. what we did in this study is we linked data from the polluta nts study is we linked data from the pollutants standard index, or psi, that we've recorded over a five—year period in singapore with our national out of hospital registry and what we found was when the psi goes into the moderate range actually up to 10% increase in the incidence of incidence of out of hospital cardiac arrest. when it goes into the unhealthy range, above 100 on the psi, it's actually up to a 30% increase. i think the interesting finding was that there isa interesting finding was that there is a large effect, meaning when the

psi goes up, the effect sustains not just on the same day but it continues for the next five days with an average of 5—9 team % increase in risk —— lag effect. with an average of 5—9 team % increase in risk -- lag effect. you mention the psi, the pollutant index, this has been a problem southeast asia has been dealing with for yea rs southeast asia has been dealing with for years and it's been incredibly ha rd to for years and it's been incredibly hard to police this in indonesia, to stop the practice of burning palm island plantations. how is your study going to put more pressure on policymakers in the region —— study going to put more pressure on policymakers in the region —- palm oil? i'm not sure about pressure but what this does is give us quantitative information about the direct impact of air pollution on health. we have to remember there's a baseline air pollution as well, not just the trans— a baseline air pollution as well, notjust the trans— boundary heat, but this can give objective data that can help policy makers make better decisions on, for example,

when to close schools or give a health advisory, and we can actually even put economic cost or costs in terms of lives. what can be done do you think by authorities, aside from closing schools and making those measures, what other measures can help practitioners like yourself recommend to the elderly and others who are susceptible to this? these are quite well—established measures to mitigate risk. if indeed there is an advisory then normally you would especially ask the high—risk groups, elderly, young children to stay indoors, and also limit the amount of physical exertion that you have in the outdoor setting. doctor marcus ong, thank you so much for joining us today. thank you. always nice to have a first class berth on a flight, but for the crew on board a turkish airlines flight that actually meant having to look after one more passenger than they bargained for after they helped a woman

have her baby on board. here's the story. it looks like it must have been a very exciting flight! you have been watching newsday. stay with us. we'll be looking at efforts to regulate a rise in the number of commercial drones over singapore's airspace. and before we go, let's take a look at these pictures from the chengdu panda base in china's sichuan province. this is fulai, who's still, it seems, learning to keep his balance. then after trying to ease himself down gently he really came down to earth with a bang. that's all for now, stay with bbc world news. good morning. sunday was a glorious day for many of us, was its spring or summer? really it was hard to tell because we had all to wall

sunshine throughout the day and in parts of eastern and south—eastern england, highs of 25, 70 seven fahrenheit. you can see the clear blue skies from sunday's satellite picture, a bit more cloud into the north—west and that thick enough to produce some rain, which died off and will continue to do so as this weather front sinks south but this weather front sinks south but this weather front sinks south but this weather front is important because as it goes further south it introduces north—westerly winds, a colder sort of bare and that will bring a noticeable change to the story. —— source of their. that north—westerly flow drags the cooler air across the country through the course of the day. so it's going to turn noticeably cooler for all of us. turn noticeably cooler for all of us. as we start of the day then, temperatures will sit at around seven to nine degrees, not too bad, that frontal system bringing quite a lot of cloud but into the north—west some of the showers will be wintry to the tops of the hills and mountains believe it or not and through the day we run the risk of a

few showers in scotland and one or two in the north—east of england. i suspect by the middle of the afternoon it should be a better afternoon it should be a better afternoon in south—west england and wales where we had a bit of cloud yesterday, but temperatures at around ten or 13. we could see temperatures down a good 8—10 in comparison to sunday in the south—east with a risk of a few showers in parts of lincolnshire and east yorkshire. heading up into scotland, yes, the risk of a few showers here but also some lengthy spells of sunshine. by the end of the afternoon, though, more organised rain gathers into the western isles and this will be a weather front toppling over that high pressure and it will start to push into the far north of scotland. high pressurejust push into the far north of scotland. high pressure just exerting push into the far north of scotland. high pressurejust exerting its influence still in england and wales, here things will stay relatively quiet. chilly start to tuesday morning, a touch of frost in more sheltered spots but clearer skies will lead to more good spells of sunshine. breezy into the far north and showery outbreaks of rain continuing here as well. as we move

into wednesday, we see more of a stronger north—westerly wind starting to pick up, gales not out of the question but again the best of the question but again the best of the question but again the best of the dry weather will always be further south but a fair amount of cloud around highs expect on wednesday and on exposed coasts it will feel a bit colder. a bit of a change on thursday. what's in store for the easter weekend? change on thursday. what's in store for the easter weekend ? the change on thursday. what's in store for the easter weekend? the dry seems set to continue, sunshine and a few isolated showers but that cool wind set to stay with i'm babita sharma with bbc world news. our top story: donald trump tells his advisers to be prepared for the next step in dealing with the north korean nuclear threat. the us military has ordered a navy strike group to move towards the korean peninsula, amid growing concerns about north korea's missile programme. egypt's president sisi has declared a three—month state of emergency following two bomb attacks on coptic churches, in which more than a0 people died. and this video

is trending on bbc.com. it shows celebrations for a 16th—century warlord injapan. over 1,000 people dressed up as samurai warriors and paraded through kofu in centraljapan as part of an annual festival. the parade includes a re—enactment of the warrior preparing to lead his troops into battle. and breaking news, sergio garcia has won the masters. more on that to come. see you soon. that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news, it's hardtalk.