i'm rico hizon, in singapore. the headlines: the candidate of the elite, or the spirit of defeat? rivals for the french presidency trade insults in their televised debate. amid rising religious intolerance in pakistan, we meet the imam who saved the life of a man accused of blasphemy. i'm kasia madera, in london. also in the programme: the american town where one in ten are addicted to opioids and pharmaceutical companies are getting the blame. and the story of the albino orangutan, rescued from captivity. we talk to the group that saved her. live from studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. glad you could join us.

it's 8am in singapore, 1am in london and 2am in paris, where the two candidates hoping to be president of france have been going head to head in the final television debate of the election. the latest polls suggest the centrist emmanuel macron is well ahead of his far—right rival marine le pen, but his lead has narrowed. both are competing to win over undecided voters ahead of the final vote on sunday. james reynolds has been watching the debate. for the first time, emmanuel macron and marine le pen sat a clear cross from one another. right from the start of this debate they began air attacks. translation: emmanuel macron is the candidate of savage globalisation, economic uncertainty,

social brutality, every man for himself. translation: you have shown you are not the candidate for a balanced democratic debate. the question is, do the people want an elitist attitude? you say globalisation is too hard for us, so is europe. let's shut our borders because others succeed, not us. the atmosphere quite heated. at times the moderators barely managed to get a word in. translation: i treat the french like adults, emmanuel macron told his opponent. you lie all the time. then each was asked about terrorism. translation: the safety of our people, the fight against terror and islamic extremism, you don't want to take it on and i know why. against terrorism we have to close our borders straightaway, immediately, and that's what i will do the moment i take power. translation: closing borders achieves nothing. there are many

countries outside the schengen area that have been hit as hard as us by terrorist attacks and since 2015 we have put border controls back to fight terrorism. marine le pen spent much of the time attacking her opponent. she avoided detailed discussion of her own proposals. emmanuel macron and marine le pen presented two very different visions of france. there is was a debate marked by attacks and accusations. they now head out to the rest of the country for the final days of the campaign. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. at a meeting with the palestinian leader mahmoud abbas at the white house, president trump has said he is committed to working with the palestinians and israel to reach a peace deal. palestinian officials say they've been reassured by one of mr trump's middle east envoys that he is serious about a deal.

i welcome president mahmoud abbas here today at the demonstration of the partnership, that very special partnership that we all need, to make it work. i look forward to welcoming him back as a great mark of progress and ultimately toward the signing of a document with the israelis, with israel. we want to create a piece between israel and the palestinians. —— peace. also making news today, in a possible breakthrough for us republicans' effort to roll back obamacare, the house of representatives plans to hold a vote thursday on compromise legislation. the decision to hold a vote comes after key moderate lawmakers met with president trump on wednesday and said a revised bill might win approval, as conservatives voiced no objections. house majority leader kevin mccarthy said republican leadership is confident there is enough support for the bill to pass. facebook says it will hire 3,000

more people to monitor live video on the site. it's co—founder marc zuckerburg said the new team willjoin 4,500 others who already check the social media network for inappropriate material. facebook and other internet companies have been accused of being too slow to respond to recent videos of murders and other violence. thousands of opposition supporters in venezuela have again clashed violently with security forces in the capital, caracas. riot police retaliated with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons. the protests are against president nicholas maduro's creation of a new assembly with powers to rewrite the constitution. hollywood star brad pitt has admitted that heavy drinking played a part in his divorce from angelina jolie. in a magazine interview, the 53—year—old said he had now given up alcohol and was receiving therapy. the messaging service whatsapp is back on line after suffering

an outage that cut off millions of users around the world. many of it's 1.2 billion users posted complaints on social media quickly making the service the top trend on twitter. monitoring sites reported issues with the app in the uk, us, south america and asia. tech—giants uber and google are currently going head—to—head in a san francisco courtroom over self—driving technology. google's self driving division, waymo, accuses uber of stealing its secrets and is demanding the ride—sharing company cease using the technology. uber denies the allegation. now this photograph has angered new zealand's maori tribe. this is jaylene cook, she's a playboy model and she is posing naked at the top of a volcano. it tookjaylene and her boyfriend seven hours to climb mount taranak.

the model said they researched the history of the mountain and felt the photo, which she shared with her nearly 300,000 instagram followers, was about freedom and empowerment. the volcano, however, is considered sacred and locals say the picture is disrespectful. in northern pakistan, the family of the man believed to be mentally ill who allegedly committed blasphemy has been moved to protective custody. on april the 21st, a local imam saved the man from violent mob who demanded his head after accusing him of blasphemy. the bbc‘s iram abbasi went to meet the imam who's been hailed as a hero. it had been a normal friday prayers at this mosque in chitral, a usually peaceful area in northern pakistan, when the attempted lynching took place. almost 200 worshippers were gathered

here at this central mosque of chitral, after prayers, where an allegedly mentally ill man committed blasphamy. this turned worshippers into a violent mob, demanding his head. but the imam saved his life by handing him over to police. the imam says he intervened because islam is a peaceful religion. translation: we should always refer to koran when such incidents take place. islam asks us to always investigate before punishing anyone. islam does not even allow killing of a bird or insect, but sometimes people go insane. some of them have burnt my car in anger. even after the man was turned over to the police, the tensions continued. enraged protesters attacked the police station where he was held. the man is now being

investigated for blasphemy. he has also been sent for a medical checkup to determine his mental health. pakistan has seen growing intolerance towards those accused of blasphemy. a month ago, a university student, mashal khan, was killed by a mob who accused him of blaphemous remarks. after the murder, the cleric refused to conduct his funeral and instructed other religions to stay away from the funeral as well. many say political parties exploit the tension for electoral gain. they have allowed the local leaders, the local ministers to go about collecting electoral votes as and however you can. if they see that some area has been penetrated by a political ideology they would not like to go against the tide and actually they would ride that tide, ride that wave. while recent incidents have got a media uproar and raised tensions in the area, it has failed to initiate a national debate on blasphemy laws, which activists

say need to be addressed before more killings take place. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: this rare albino orangutan was being kept in a cage by villagers in indonesia. we'll hear from the animal charity that rescued her. also on the programme: a massive drug crisis, up close. how the opioid epidemic in america is affecting one city, and how authorities are fighting back. i, nelson rolihlahla mandela, do hereby serve to be faithful to the republic of south africa. after six years of construction and numerous delays, the channel tunnel has been formally opened by the queen and president mitterrand.

the tunnel is still not yet ready for passengers and freight services to begin. for centuries, christianity and islam struggled for supremacy. now the pope's visit symbolises their willingness to coexist. roger bannister became the first man in the world to run a mile in underfour minutes. memories of victory as the ve celebrations reach their climax. this night is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon, in singapore. i'm kasia madera, in london. our top stories: marine le pen and emmanuel macron have traded accusations and insults in the final televised debate ahead

of sunday's french presidential election. after months of wrangling, republicans in the us congress may be close to repealing health care legislation introduced under barack 0bama. this story on bbc.com. china's government has issued new rules, tightening its control over online media outlets. companies that publish or share news will need a government licence, and senior editors will need to be approved by the authorities. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. once again the japan times takes a look at the diplomacy involved over north korea's nuclear and missile programmes. as the us and china work together, the paper says pyongyang could turn to russia for support. it says north korea is hoping moscow would help ease the pain if china steps up sanctions. the china daily also focuses

on diplomacy involving north korea. it's reporting that chinese president xi jinping wants to bring asean countries like the philippines into the discussions, to help maintain regional peace and stability. the south china morning post is looking ahead to this week's maiden test flight of china's first home—grown passengerjet. the c—9i9 is built by the state—owned aerospace manufacturer commercial aircraft and is meant to challenge the dominance of boeing and airbus. those are the lead stories of the major publications. now, kasia, what are people watching online? rico, this uplifting story is trending on bbc.com. it's about anu, a schoolgirl from brimingham, in the uk. the seven year old lost her leg shortly after birth and wears a prosthetic one. well here she is, showing off a new sports blade to herfriends in the playground.

they‘ re pretty impressed and catching her, won't be easy. lawmakers in the philippines have rejected the appointment of the country's controversial environment secretary only ten months after she took up the position. regina lopez invoked environmental concerns to order the closure of more than half the country's existing collieries and banned open—pit mining — a decision which angered many people who work in the mining industry. she gave the bbc her reaction. i am disappointed because clearly there are business influences that have manoeuvred the decision and, from my point of view, governments should make decisions primarily on the filter of the common good and when business interests they dominate the influence in a way that even adversely affects our people, that is not good at all for the culture of the country, for the future of the country, it is not good at all. raheena lopez.

so, rico, who is the likely candidate to succeed ms lopez? there are a number of names being floated around but ms lopez has her own personal choice. she says no less than president duterte is the best person to take her place. she said she can't think of any other person but the president because he has the guts and the bravery to stand up to business interests. as everyone knows by now, mr duterte is a hard nosed, tough—talking leader

who fears no—one. he spoke against the eu and president 0bama who basically criticised him about human rights abuses in the philippines. ms lopez stressed that if there's anyone else appointed to the position, that person will get clobbered. so, you know what, she got the thumbs down. she upset the mining industry when she ordered the closure or suspension of 28 mines and threatened to cancel 75 contracts, following an industry—wide audit. we'll now have to wait and see if the president will take on this new challenge. my my goodness, if he takes this on, we will all be talking about it. but rico, what reaction has there been after she was rejected, what have people been saying? well, first of all the stock—market, mining stocks basically surged on the news of her

rejection in her appointment as the environment minister and the association said it would undo the measures when the minister is appointed. they said that ms lopez's directives had no legal basis and would have killed the mining sector. as for greanpeace they said rejecting the appointment revealed how destructive industries continue to hold the lawmakers by their necks la ms lopez's supporters have organised candlelit vigils to mark the end of her tenure, so there has been mixed reaction to the rejection of her appointment. thank you very much for bringing us up to date on that, it is certainly one to watch. in the united states, huntington, west virginia, is in the grip of an addiction epidemic. over one in ten people there are hooked on heroin or other opioids. now local authorities are taking legal action against pharmaceutical companies they accuse of flooding their city

with highly—addictive prescription drugs. 0ur video journalists tom bateman and howard johnson have been to huntington. their report contains distressing images from the start. that's an overdose, come on. steve williams, mayor of the city of huntington, west virginia.

huntington is a town ofjust under 50,000 people, our county is 96,000 people, yet over a five—year period, just a five—year period, there was over a0 million, a0 million doses of opiates that were distributed in this county alone. the numbers speak for themselves. most of our callouts now are for drugs. they probably make up somewhere around a third of our calls. fires generally are about i5% to 10% of our calls, so obviously the drugs are much... alarm sounds. sorry about that! that's me. that's an overdose, come on. just going to an overdose

of a middle—aged male at a local grocery store. he's been reported and i'll know more on that and we're on our way now. the man that was called? the restroom. the restroom? thank you. what have we got? his mouth is closing up. hey!? what's his name? timmy. timmy?! what? wake up, partner. look here. how long you been doing heroin? it's been a while since you've done it... ..done it or you've been doing it a while? go ahead, let's stand up against the wall, get your bearings. can i ask, did you go and start on opioids first before

you moved onto heroin? yes, sir. and how did you get into it? i was on pain pills and actually i've been trying to get off it hopefully. i would just as soon be able to hear from these companies that say we'll come in and we'll partner with you to try to fight this addiction rather than spend their time saying, "if it's not our fault, we're just a business." when i was in the investment business, if i was giving advice to somebody that caused harm to them, i would lose my career, lose my license and possibly have to pay money. do no harm and there's plenty of harm that we can point to all around. the orangutan is a critically

endangered species but an animal charity in borneo has rescued an especially rare example of the ape. this is an albino orangutan. she was being kept in a cage by villagers when she was found in a remote forest area in the indonesian part of borneo. jacqueline sunderland—groves is from the borneo 0rangutan survival foundation which rescued the animaljust a few days ago. she described the orangutan‘s state of health. well, when we found this very special orangutan, which, as you say, she was rescued from a very small vintage in central kalimantan on borneo, she was already captured by a group of local people who had found her in their local farmland. she was being held in a small wooden cage. we could not find any visible

serious injuries on the orangutan she was very stressed and clearly very unhappy to be in the presence of humans but otherwise overall she was a very healthy. we transferred her into a travel enclosure, together with the local authorities, and we moved to our rehabilitation centre in cetral kalimantan, at nyaru menteng. now in nyaru menteng she is undergoing all the normal routine quarantine procedures that we have, so making sure she's healthy both physically and psychologically. so far she is doing well. now she is under your care. do you plan to release the female orangutan back into the wild any time soon? not any time soon. ideally, whenever we receive an orangutan, we assess the two main criteria — her health and behaviour. and if an orangutan is healthy it shows the right behaviour,

the right world skills, and is age—appropriate — is old enough to survive in the forest — then our first call of action would be to return her to natural habitat but as you say this female is very special because she is very rare and she stands out so we are now going through a risk assessment process where we look at what risk would be associated if we did release her and what her survival chances would be. once we have been through th at process, we will be able determine exactly the best path for her future wellbeing.. in your view, what would be her survival chances if you release the orangutan back into the wild? well, normally we have very good, high success rates, especially if they are wild but we have to look at other factors with this female. she does stand out. she is not the reddish—brown colour that other orangutans are so she will be more visible in the forest. so we have to look at the threat to potential hunting and also whether other orangutans, will accept her in the wild. 0bviously her mother

excepted her and he mother raised her over five years but how orangutans who are unrelated to her respond we simply do not know so this is one of the things we are assessing at the moment, to see what the possibilites are. but wverything we do will be in her best interest and her long—term well—being and conservation. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. we'll be looking at how new start—ups are starting to use virtual reality and gaming to gain customers. and before we go, it may not be the olympics but competition was almost as fierce at hong kong's annual bun carnival. scaling an 18—metre high tower of buns, athletes are scored on how many buns they can retrieve in a short amount of time. hello there.

the weather contrast on wednesday got a little bit more stark across the uk, with low cloud dominant across parts of east anglia and the south—west. a breeze off a chilly sea. 9 celsius the high for one or two, but in the sunshine, and plenty of it further north and west, high teens and low 20s. and considering our wind is coming from the east, and will be for the next few days, you look downwind, clumps of cloud of running into the same areas that we have seen during the past 2a hours. so more cloud around on thursday. maybe the odd brighter break here and there. but east anglia and the south—east always prone to the odd spot of rain and drizzle and maybe a few splashes of drizzle further west. a few breaks in the clouds towards devon and cornwall, the channel islands but probably a little bit of a cloudier start across wales, compared to what we saw yesterday morning. further north, though, sunshine will be out again across much of northern england, after a chilly start. a chilly start but a sunny start in northern ireland. the odd mist or fog patch. in scotland, more chilly

start, dry and sunny. around moray firth, shetland low cloud close to the coast. that will come and go through the day. still with some sunny spells. a few brighter days through the midlands and parts of north wales into the afternoon after a grey start. but still plenty of cloud across other southern counties. still the chance of one or two passing showers. a breezy day. limiting the temperatures off the cold sea, across those eastern areas. in the west, particularly gusty winds west of the hills. western scotland 19—20 celsius is again possible. then into thursday night, we see a few more in the way of bright clearer breaks across parts england and wales, and that will lead to temperatures dropping a touch. outside of the towns, you mightjust about get a touch of frost here and there once again but most will be frost—free particularly the further south you are. the breezy helping to limit things. so another breezy day on friday. further areas of cloud drifting across southern counties of england and wales. maybe into the midlands later. further north, clearer skies across northern england, scotland and northern ireland. temperatures for some getting down a little bit but could still get to then high teens across western scotland and maybe to the west of cumbria. a few changes as we go into the weekend —

the high—pressure that has been with us recedes a little bit towards iceland. allows this low pressure system to get close — how close it gets is a big question mark but it could spread rain across devon and cornwall, channel islands, maybe southern counties of england through the day. north of that, some brighter sunny spells and feeling a little less chilly across south—eastern areas. the rain close by if you go through the night and into sunday. either way, whether it reaches the south coast or not, it clears into the near continent, allowing north—easterly winds to develop for sunday. so we'll see a bit more sunshine around in places. the best in the west. cool down the eastern coast. take care. this is bbc world news. our top story: the two french presidential candidates go head to head in a tv debate. marine le pen called emmanuel macron the establishment candidate. he said she "fed off hate". french voters will cast their votes on sunday. the us house of representatives has scheduled a vote for thursday to repeal barack 0bama's affordable health care act. republicans are now confident

they have the numbers to carry the day. and this video is trending on bbc.com. it shows a schoolgirl called anu, from brimingham, here in the uk. the seven year old lost her leg shortly after birth, and was filmed showing off a new sports blade to herfriends in the playground. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: a fourth person has been arrested over the murder of guy hedger, who was shot by intruders