this is newsday. the top stories: china says it is seriously concerned about north korea's nuclear ambitions after the weekend's massive military parade in pyongyang. the situation on the korean peninsula is highly complicated and sensitive. all parties concerned should exercise restraint and make joint efforts to ease tension in the region. ayes to the right, 522. noes to the left, 13. the go—ahead to have a snap general election in june. the first christian and ethnic chinese governor concedes defeat to his muslim opponent in a hotly contested election. and one of america's best—known cable news presenters has lost his job after a slew of sexual harassment allegations. live from studio is in singapore and london,

this is bbc world news. it's newsday. thanks forjoining us. it is 7am in singapore, midnight in london at 7am in beijing, where china's foreign ministry has raised new worries about north korea's weekly programme. the chinese foreign ministry has called for calm and an end to actions that could further raise tension on the korean peninsular. at at the same time a spokesman said beijing had serious concerns about pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. translation: china's position on north korea's nuclear issue is clear and consistent. we have repeatedly stressed that the situation on the korean peninsula is highly

complicated and sensitive. all parties concerned should exercise restraint and make joint efforts to ease tension in the region, rather than provoking each other and making things worse. we hope the countries which are really committed to regional peace will not stoke the tension there. we miss guard against anyone who tries to achieve their own political ends by taking advantage of the regional situation to play up tension and deepen the difference is there. that's the view from beijing as far as the us is concerned. john spicer said china's engagement in north korea was a positive step. i think it is encouraging to see china continued to move forward and join us in this effort to control north korea. i think the relationship that the president started you'll been with president xijinping at president started you'll been with president xi jinping at mar—a—lago is showing positive signs. china

continues to have both economic and political influence over china and so political influence over china and soi political influence over china and so i think it is important to see them headed in this direction. it is a positive sign to see them play a larger role. it is in everybody‘s interest to contain north korea's actions. sean spicer also faced a barrage of questions at the daily white house briefing on confusion over a us aircraft carrier group and its location with regard to north korea. a week ago donald trump said he was sending what he described as an "armada" — the uss carl vinson aircraft carrier group then in singapore — as a warning to pyongyang. but it's emerged that the battle group was even further away at the weekend, moving through indonesia's sunda strait into the indian ocean, after continuing its military drills with australia. here's us defense secretary james mattis addressing the confusion. the bottomline is in our effort to a lwa ys the bottomline is in our effort to always be open about what we are doing we said that we would change

the upcoming schedule. as i said on the upcoming schedule. as i said on the record, it is operating up and down the western pacific and we are doing exactly what we said, which is that we are shifting it instead of continuing in one direction, as she pulled out of singapore, she will continue part of her cruise down at region. but she was on her way up to korea. that was the us defence secretary james mattis. jean lee, a global fellow for the washington think tank the wilson centerjoins us from seoul in south korea. thank you forjoining us. beijing is seriously concerned. how would you describe the tone of this statement? beijing does typically call for restraint. you know, it is interesting to see how this is

unfolding between the us and china. washington is putting a lot of pressure on china to act on north korea and as we heard earlier the press secretary pointed out that china has considerable economic and political leveraged. but i would argue that while it is true that beijing has an immense potential economic leveraged over north korea, beijing also recognises that they will lose some of their political leveraged with north korea if they press too hard. so it will be interesting to see how far china goesin interesting to see how far china goes in working with the united states in reining in these north korean provocations. so there are some shades of nuance in this statement that we heard from beijing, referring to the geopolitical situation in the region. it is a very complicated issue here and what they want to do issue here and what they want to do is to prevent any kind of aggression. this region is a

tinderbox, so what they don't want is anyone pushing it too far, so that there is some sort of conflict. it's a very constipated situation, but if you read the words, the statement from beijing has been more aggressive than in the past. —— complicated situation. in your view, what should be the next move of the chinese, if the north koreans continue to be quite arrogant, continue to be quite arrogant, continue their threats? the north koreans have continued to build nuclear weapons and perfect their ballistic missile technology at an unprecedented pace, despite threats from the us and despite pressure from the us and despite pressure from beijing. so i think the chinese are certainly trying to calibrate how to use the leveraged that they have economically to defuse tensions in the region. so i think that the

calibration they are trying to do now and certainly they will try to send and on voyage to pyongyang to talk to the north koreans. —— send and envoy. perhaps even threaten more economic sanctions on their side. economic sanctions, but so far it hasn't really worked with the north koreans. i mean, the vice president mike pence has said military action is out of the equation, at trump says a range of options. what should really be done to be able to solve this korean peninsula problem? the sanctions can really only have teeth if they are enforced. it is very difficult to do. china is the main conduit for materials. not only illicit material that might help them build some of these missiles but also the luxury goods and other kind of creature comforts that some of those sanctions are intended to restrict.

the sanctions are meant to not only stop the flow of illicit groups or goods that could contribute to illicit weapons but also put the pinch on the north koreans to get them to change their behaviour. but that's not going to be effective u nless that's not going to be effective unless they are forced. certainly enforcement and putting pressure on china to enforce the sanctions will be part of that equation. thanks so much forjoining us. our other big story is of course in the uk. mps have voted overwhelmingly to hold a snap election injune. in the end it was little more than a formality, with 522 votes to just 13 backing the prime minister's plans to send britain to the polls three years early. theresa may says it's necessary to guarantee stability and a strong hand for the uk during brexit negotiations. campaigning has already kicked off, here's what the hopefuls said during their first events. that's what this election is about.

it's about providing a strong and sta ble it's about providing a strong and stable leadership this country needs to ta ke stable leadership this country needs to take britain through brexit and beyond. it's about strengthening our hand the negotiations that lie ahead and it's about sticking to our plan for a stronger britain that will enable us to secure that more stable and secure future for this country and secure future for this country and take the right long—term decisions for the future. it's about strong and stable leadership in the national interest. this election is about the future of all of us! the future of our children, the future of socialjustice, the future of our services, the future of ourjobs. are we going to be a country that gives riches and makes riches for all of us, orare gives riches and makes riches for all of us, or are we going to be a country that works only to make the richest even richer? i know which

side i am on! i know which side you are on. side i am on! i know which side you are on. this election is going to be fought on the streets of this country, up and down, in town halls, streets, beaches, seafronts. we are going to take this message of the kind of country and kind of society we want to be. there's much more on the uk election on the bbc news website. there are live updates, the latest videos, analysis and an election fact checker, where our experts will be putting the campaign's claims under the spotlight. head to bbc.com/news. also making news today: the us vice—president mike pence has arrived in indonesia, on the latest leg of his tour of asian nations. he'll spend three days there. the visit is being seen as an attempt to engage with the world's largest muslim—majority country, as it begins to emerge as a growing regional power. two senior civil servants in nigeria have been suspended,

after more than m3 million was found in cash in a flat in lagos. president buhari has ordered an investigation into the discovery. the nigerian national intelligence agency says the money belonged to it, but it's not clear how it came to be in the building where it was found. now, here's an example of why you should always keep a close eye on your guests, especially when they've got something to celebrate. this is president trump hosting the new england patriots american football team to congratulate them on their victory in the superbowl earlier this year. so far, so good. but the players then appeared to get the run of the white house and here's what happened during press secretary sean spicer‘s daily briefing. it pans out in the negotiation. can i just... it pans out in the negotiation. can ijust... i think i've got this! but

thank you. maybe. thanks, the winner minutes. —— see you in a minute. all right, but was cool. that was sean spicer. that was new england player rob gronkowski, crashing the white house press briefing. as you can see, his offer of help was declined. and here's some change from south korea, or rather, a lack of change. the country is starting to test a system known as the cashless society project, which will allow customers to have change from their purchases added to pre—paid cards. the government wants to scrap coins by the year 2020. if it's able to do so, it estimates it could save around $16 million a year in manufacturing costs. the first christian governor of the indonesian capitaljakarta

has conceded defeat to his rival, a muslim former government minister. it follows a divisive election battle which stoked religious tensions after governor ahok, who's ethnic chinese, was accused of insulting the koran in a campaign speech. from jakarta, rebecca henschke reports. in conceding defeat, the governor called for unity. translation: we are all the same. we want jakarta to be good and we wanted to move forward because this is where we all live. celebrations have already begun here at the supporter‘s home. the former education minister has been criticised for running a very divisive and divisive election campaign, capitalising on accusations against the governor and highlighting religious differences.

the fact that governor ahok is a christian and not a muslim. but it has been a very successful campaign and these people say that he is a leader that they want to bring ja ka rta leader that they want to bring jakarta back together after this divisive election. he is a smart leader, with a low profile, and he is close to the people. anies baswedan‘s campaign heavily capitalised on the blasphemy case against governor ahok to harness the awesome vote and today, right after the election, governor ahok is back in court. he faces jail time if convicted of blasphemy. very unlikely he used to be acquitted. very unlikely he used to be found guilty. it will bring a very bad message for indonesia. it means the blasphemy law can be used more and more, can be easily politicised and easily manipulated to send your

enemies, anyone you don't like, to prison. the jakarta election was widely seen as a proxy for the next presidential poll in two years. with supporters of anies baswedan crying out that their party will win back the presidency from joko widodo. the brought in $147 million in advertising revenue for fox news last year alone —— he. now bill o'reilly, one of america's best—known anchors, is leaving the network following accusations of sexual harassment. he's always denied the allegations, some of which have been around for a decade, and says it is tremendously disheartening to be leaving due to com pletely disheartening to be leaving due to completely unfounded claims. our washington correspondent laura bicker has more details. he's been with the network almost since its inception, he's been there

for two decades, he draws 4 million viewers a year, so he will be a very big loss to fox news. but they were ina big loss to fox news. but they were in a corner. their hand had been forced. not only did it come to light that five women had allegedly settled harassment claims for $13 million, more claims seem to be coming to light. on tuesday night for instance, a woman came forward, a lawyer came forward, alleging that her african—american client had been called hot chocolate by bill o'reilly. he said he had leered at her any time no one was looking. as these allegations began to mount, far more protests were held outside fox news hq and more and more sponsors, more than 50 of them, were withdrawing their advertising revenues. all of this after the chairman of fox news, roger ailes, also had to leave after his own harassment claims came to light. this is all at a time when 21st

century fox is trying to negotiate a deal to buy the remaining 61% of the european broadcaster sky, so there's a sense of timing and it all added up a sense of timing and it all added up to being an offer is enough. washington correspondent laura bicker. you're watching newsday on the bbc, live from london and singapore. still to come on the programme: prince harry gets an amazing response after opening up about his struggles in coping with the loss of his mother nearly 20 yea rs the loss of his mother nearly 20 years ago. the stars and stripes at half—mast outside columbine high. the school sealed off, the bodies of the dead still inside. i never thought they would actually go through with it. some places have already had nearly as much rain as they would normally expect in an entire year. some places have already had nearly as much rain as they would normally expect in an entire year.

for millions of americans, the death of richard nixon in a new york hospital has meant conflicting emotions. a national day of mourning next wednesday sitting somehow uneasily with the abiding memories of the shame of watergate. and lift—off of the space shuttle discovery with the hubble space telescope, our window on the universe. welcome back, you're watching newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories this hour: trialer says it is seriously concerned about not korean nuclear

ambitions as tensions continue to rise in the region —— china. british lawmakers have given the go—ahead for a snap general election. the prime minister theresa may says she wants a stronger negotiating hand over brexit. now let's take a look at some of the front pages from around the world and we start with the china daily and we start with the china daily and on its front page, where it says beijing has urged the united states to change its export policies. chinese officials say washington lifting the block on selling high—tech goods to china would help relieve the trade deficit between the two countries. and moving on to the upcoming uk collection, which features on the front page of the daily telegraph, and it covers theresa may's refusal to ta ke and it covers theresa may's refusal to take part in television debates but says the prime minister hasn't ruled out a televised question and a nswer ruled out a televised question and answer session or an extended interview. and among the stories on the front page of the financial times is the

announcement from airline emirates that it announcement from airline emirates thatitis announcement from airline emirates that it is cutting the number of flights to america, citing lower demand due to increased security measures put on demand due to increased security measures put on passengers demand due to increased security measures put on passengers from the middle east. those are the top stories from major publications around the world. kasia, tell us about a picture creating excitement on the internet. excitement and speculation, there has been so much speculation over whether serena williams is pregnant. we can confirm that she is. speculation started after the tennis superstar posted a picture of herself on the social media app snapchat, the picture showing her posing with a baby bump and the words 20 weeks. in the past hour her publicist has confirmed that the 35—year—old is indeed pregnant and is due to give birth in the autumn. and in the past few minutes a spokeswoman has said she will not play a game until after the baby is born, due in autumn. they're calling it the mother of all

protests in venezuela and sadly it has not been without bloodshed. at least two people have been shot dead after thousands took to the streets to demand new presidential elections and to release jailed opposition politicians. the bbc‘s leonardo rocha has more. the demonstrators arrived in their thousands for what they call the mother of all protests. they called for new elections and the release of opposition politicians. the opposition politicians. the opposition blames president nicolas maduro and his predecessor, the lake hugo chavez, for the country's serious economic crisis. many venezuelans say the country is on the verge of collapse. translation: i think we will reach victory with this protest. this is the second independence of venezuela. this is the day we have been for. the confrontation quickly triggered

conflict with security forces. in caracas police fired teargas and rubber bullets at demonstrators who attempted to converge on the office of the state ombudsman. the wireless wasn't restricted to the capital. this was the scene in the west of the country where protesters also clashed with riot police. but the president remained defiant, speaking ata president remained defiant, speaking at a rally of his supporters he accused the opposition of plotting a coup. and the protesters of attacking the police and looting shops. translation: we have captured more than 30 hooded people, violent terrorists. we have caught more than 3o terrorists. we have caught more than 30 today, fully identified. venezuela, an oil—rich country, seems to be locked in a political stalemate while its economy colla pses stalemate while its economy collapses and violence flares up again. leonardo rocha, bbc news. we can bring you now one of the big stories of the week and that is

britain's prince harry's admission that he struggled to cope in the yea rs that he struggled to cope in the years following the death of his mother princess diana. his words have provoked a huge response, so much so that the prince has said he is simply amazed at what is happening. peter hunt has the story. his report contains flashing images from the start. this year this race has a special focus on a princely passion, mental health. prince harry has attracted widespread praise this week for his honesty when he spoke of the anguish and anxiety he suffered four years after his mother's death. it was only right to share my experiences to hope to encourage others to come forward and reduce or smashed that stigma, to make it easierfor them to talk about their own experiences —— smash. i wasjust doing my bit. was it liberating or scary? look,

once you've heard so many stories from so many other people, and if you can relate to that it's only right you talk about your own experiences. all the experts you've made will tell you one of the key issuesis made will tell you one of the key issues is funding and there isn't enough money in some places, what are you going to do that? as you probably know that's not our mission, our mission is to remove the stigma of mental health to allow a platform to talk about it. you could remove services that aren't there? that's something we've been aware of in the last year but the fa ct of aware of in the last year but the fact of the reality is, as i said, the appetite is their. once the appetite is there things will change, i'm confident of that, it's not my position or our position or job to do that. we are nonpolitical so we will do everything we can to encourage the conversation, remove the stigma so that everything else can then take place.

opening up about the past is a brotherly trait. in a bbc document tree, prince william has provided an insight into the trauma of his brief and. the shock is the biggest thing and. the shock is the biggest thing andi and. the shock is the biggest thing and i still feel 20 years after my mother, i have shock 20 years later. people think shock can't last that long but it does, you never get over it, it's such an unbelievably big moment in your life that it never leaves you, you just learn to deal with it. an upbeat harry believes the campaign is at a tipping point. the uk, he hopes, will lead the way in the world by removing the stigma around mental health. sorry i gave you such big scissors! peter hunt, bbc news. much more on that campaign on our website. from me, rico and the team, thanks forjoining us. after several days of fairly quiet

whether taking us through much of the weekend, next week is looking very different. next week's weather will get us talking, stay with me for a tease of what's to come. this is how thursday begins, with more cloud around than recent mornings, not as chilly as it's been, but that cloud will produce some damp weather in places and a bit of patchy rain for northern and western parts of scotland, perhaps into northern ireland and north—west england to begin the day. in the hills it could begin the day. in the hills it could be misty and murky and a similar story into snowdonia. a band of thicker cloud into the midlands, wales and yorkshire producing patchy rain, notamounting wales and yorkshire producing patchy rain, not amounting to much. to the south of that for some it could be a bright start but quite a chilly start here. even here cloud is going to increase, just leaving by the afternoon limited sunny spells, southern england, east anglia. a few brighter breaks into sappy scotland, north—east england, is wales, west midlands and eastern parts of northern ireland but on the whole a

good deal of cloud around, patchy rain in north and west in scotland, rain in north and west in scotland, rain at times into northern ireland and north—west england but many places will stay dry. breaking out in the sunshine it will feel warmer, 15, 16 or 17. in the sunshine it will feel warmer, 15,16 or17. going in the sunshine it will feel warmer, 15,16 or 17. going through in the sunshine it will feel warmer, 15, 16 or 17. going through thursday night we will keep a good deal of cloud around, pepping up the rain in northern scotland with a strengthening breeze but for many it will look like a mild start to friday morning. on friday we are going to take this rain southwards across scotland are eventually reaching into parts of northern ireland. colder air following this, maybe a few wintry showers in shetland on friday. to the south of that for much of england and wales, a good deal of cloud around, some sunny spells and the temperatures peaking into the mid—teens in some spots. friday night we continue taking this weather fronts southwards across the uk, barely any rain associated with it, but it is the leading edge of cooler air so turning chilly by the start of the weekend, a touch of frost in a few

spots to begin the day. quite a breeze in the north—east, not as chilly as the rest of the uk into south—west england, the south of wales, dry weather around with variable cloud and sunny spells. on sunday, england, wales and northern ireland mainly dry but the wind will pick up. wetter and windier weather will move east across scotland through the day. this area of low pressure a cross through the day. this area of low pressure across scotland is significant because into next week it will take colder air south across the uk arm and some will see some snow. keep checking the forecast. i'm kasia madera, with bbc world news. china says it's seriously concerned about north korea's nuclear plans, after pyonyang told the bbc it would continue its missile test programme. china, one of north korea's few allies, has called for the denuclearisation of the entire korean peninsula. it asked both pyonyang and washington to exercise restraint. british members of parliament have voted in favour of holding a general election in june, three years ahead of schedule. the plan was approved with well over the two—thirds majority required.

this story is very much trending online. the tennis star serena williams is expecting her first baby. the news has been confirmed by her agent, who said she would "definitely not be able to play again this year" but would return in 2018. that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news. now it's time for hardtalk.