this is newsday. old leaders condemned the attack in kabul, the afghan president calls it a crime against humanity. i warm handshake for the chinese premier noes visit to germany but is this a shifting global alliances? in singapore. the sri lankan government promised to improve building laws after the death toll rises above 200. nasa sets its sights on the sun. plans are under way for the space agency to fly a probe into the stars fiery atmosphere. this is bbc world news. glad you could join

us, it's 1am here in london and 8am in singapore. in kabul the president has described a massive bomb attack in the capital asa a massive bomb attack in the capital as a crime against humanity. 90 people were killed and more than 400 others were killed, evidence suggested a militant group affiliated with the taliban carried out the attack with pakistan's help. the taliban has denied any involvement. you could see for miles the force of this explosion. a massive bomb at a busy kabul intersection hitting commuters on their way to work. children on their way to school. it was a bomb so powerful it shattered

windows onto a mile away leaving a trail of destruction. 0ne witness said it was an earthquake. there were so many casualties. security vehicles had to double up as ambulances. the afghan government said hospitals in the capital are in dire need of blood. i was working in the office when a powerful blast happened, i collapsed under the desk and received injuries from shattered windows. most of the dead and injured were civilians including many women and children. among those killed is muhammad nasir, he worked for the bbc as a driver, the bbc said it was a popular colleague with young family. the area where the bomb went off supposed to be one of the most secure parts of the capital. walking distance from the presidential palace. bbc were at the scene soon after the attacks up it was a water tank or a lorry full of explosives that hit their strategic area right at the heart of kabul. it's very close to the german

embassy, the indian embassy, the french and british embassies. even in a country that's become painfully used violence, the scale of this attack has been a shock. security in afghanistan has been deteriorating for some time, most of the country was under government control in 2014 when nato ended its combat mission. since then large swathes of territory have fallen to an taliban. most of helmand where so many british soldiers lost their lives is now in taliban hands. so is much of the province of and is has established a presence. the americans have over 8000 troops, the uk 500, commanders are now asking for thousands more. we were asking for thousands of military boots on the ground and that did not weaken or destroy the taliban so a few thousand more today is not going to be a solution. yes in the short term it will give some support and better

training to the afghan government and security forces but the insurgency will still be there. intelligence are blaming an affiliate of the taliban network but no group has admitted to carrying out one of the west attacks kabul as ever seen. malaysia airlines plane had to turn back after a passenger said he had a bomb and right into the cockpit. the man was arrested by the airport security. malaysia airlines said the sri lankan passenger had a battery. the correspondent was there. passengers stood up at some device.

he threatened to enter the cockpit and at that point an air hostess try to restrain the man. an air hostess to tackle the man and passengers have managed detained him whilst the pilot turned around and got back to melbourne shortly before midnight so really a 40 minute ordeal. australian central police were at the tarmac but they didn't enter the plane for a good hour because they thought if they did that maybe the plane would detonate the device, they waited an hour and then boarded the plane and arrested the man and thankfully no one is injured. representatives of the seven main british parties contesting the elections have taken part in a fractious television debates, the prime minister theresa may was criticised for her refusal to

participate sending a senior minister to represent the governing conservative party in her place. the leader of the main opposition labour partyjeremy corbyn did take part. the surprise decision announced earlier in the day. politicians clashed over brexit, security and immigration. president trump and the vietnamese presidents have met each other at the white house, mr trump told reporters that vietnam had made an order worth billions of dollars. details have not yet been provided. a french policeman who was killed in paris has taken part in the world's first posthumous gay wedding. the policeman was shot on the champs—elysees in april last year before the elections in france. now let's show you some pictures from kenya were they have opened a major

new railway station between mombasa and nairobi. this is kenya ‘s biggest infrastructure since independence and it is part of china's belt and road initiative to create new trade links. berlin where it was all smiles earlier as angela merkel played host to le keqiang. he is the second east asian leader to receive the red—carpet treatment in berlin this week after india's prime minister on tuesday. the more positive mood, a change on last week when the g—7 countries meeting in sicily saw a split with the united states taking a different position to the rest on issues such as climate change and free trade. the bbc‘sjoe mellor has been following the events in berlin. it's tempting to read a lot into this, there have

been two east asian leaders here and this comes after a week where tensions between the us and germany have never really been higher. of course these visits are planned a long way in advance and it's true to say press officers of either delegation if you take a look at the trade numbers between china and europe they are improving as years go by. this visit could not have come at a better time politically. if you look at the trade numbers between europe and china they are really improving as years go by, you have europe, the number one export market for china and china is the number two market after us. of course.

it's particularly important for germany because germany of courses and export orientated economy, its economy is largely reliant on selling its very high quality made in germany products around the world and it slowly but surely running out of consumers, especially if the us turns towards protectionism, donald trump has spoken about banning german cars from being sold in the us, germany needs to find new people to sell its cars to and india, china both booming markets in both markets it would like to make more inroads into but berlin and european leaders are slightly careful though because they still have lots of reservations about transparency in china, competition, so it's a warm reception but a cautious one. sri lanka says it will speed up flood relief as the death toll from heavy monsoon rains has risen above

200 people. the powerful storm turned into a cyclone and moved on to my marker and other parts. these are the worst torrential rains to hit sri lankan i4 are the worst torrential rains to hit sri lankan 14 years and more than five days since the downpours began many areas are severely flooded. the huge mudslides have wiped out entire villages. 600,000 people are living in temporary shelters. translation: until now we have had no relief from the government, everything has been given to us by the buddhist temple in the village. the authorities say more than 200 people have been killed and 96 are still missing. foreign aid began arriving at the colombo port with the latest shipment coming from pakistan. sri

lanka's military has been deployed to help with a clearer. we have to speed up the provision of relief, we have accepted that and from today we will be doing that. the government says many people killed in the landslides would have survived if their homes had not been built on slopes. it has pledged to tighten construction laws. the immediate focus is now on this enormous clean—up operation, 16 countries are turning food and medicine to the worst affected areas. donald trump says he will be making an announcement soon if the us will withdraw from the paris climate change deal. media outlets says he'll be pulling out but mr trump will make a decision in a few days' time, those who want the us to stay in the agreement are speaking out. this was very much

created because of 0bama and the chinese president, i bomb has left the scene and 0bama has left the scene and president trump has gone a while and now it is up to president shi california he will work with other countries to do everything we can to offset the negative pathway chosen by president trump. earlier i spoke to paul bledsoe, he is now a lecturer at the american sense of environmental policy. we don't know for sure. as we've all experienced donald trump if anything is the most unpredictable player on the world stage and the most erratic, some of us hope that his daughter is ivanka can convince the president of what european leaders couldn't

that leaving paris would be an absurd self—inflicted wound on the united states that would hurt our credibility, our ability to meet his other objectives frankly, not to mention undermining climate protection so there is still some hope here in washington that the better angels in the white house will convince trump to stay. but if president trump indeed oppose or withdrawals from this deal, how will he do it? is there a waiting period? there are two ways he can do it, he could first withdraw just simply from the paris agreement which would require a three—year wait until november of 2019. that would be the better of the two withdrawal alternatives. the next president could rejoin paris rather easily as

an executive agreement. the nuclear option would be of donald trump withdraws from the un framework agreement on climate which was ratified by the us senate in 1992 and is obviously been supported by presidents of both parties for more than a generation, we really hope he doesn't do that but we also hope he doesn't leave paris at all. if he does, does this encourage other countries who signed up to withdraw as well? i don't think so. to withdraw as well? i don't think a single other country in the world willjump off a cliff because donald trump does. they recognise that this is actually an all hands on deck moment for the world's leaders and just because just because donald trump jumps off the deep doesn't mean that they would do it. they see billions of dollars in the clean economy markets, the chinese, the europeans, many others are spending a great deal of money trying to be

competitive in their space so this as an economic opportunity as well as a very critical humanitarian and diplomatic one. the huge mudslides have wiped out entire villages. paul bledsoe. still to come on the programme. breaking the cycle of violence in kashmir: how two protestors from opposite sides of the divide have re—built their lives. also on the programme. why nasais lives. also on the programme. why nasa is setting its sights on the sun — with plans to fly a probe directly into the star's fiery atmosphere. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... world leaders condemn the attack in

kabul, the afghan president calls it a crime against humanity. le keqiang is in germany for talks with angler merkel, climate change and trade are dominating the discussion. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the top story on the australian news site, news—dot—com—dot—au, is one which we've touched on already — the melbourne airport incident. this report explains that a "lunatic" passenger tried to storm the cockpit of a malaysia airlines flight to kuala lumpur, threatening to blow up the plane. the attacker was restrained by passengers until returning to melbourne, where police found no evidence of explosives. china daily proudly reports on kenya's new railway. it highlights that kenya is the third african nation to launch a railway system built with chinese technology. the 472—kilometer railway links the port of mombasa to the capital of nairobi, and will later connect

more remote nations. and on the front page of the japan times. sumo wrestling! ta kayasu has officially been promoted to sumo's second—highest ranking, 'ozeki'. the 27—year—old, is the first wrestler to be awarded the title since 2015. to reach ozeki status, a wrestler must win at least 33 bouts over three consecutive 15—day tournaments. trump and one tweet in particular is sparking discussions online. yes let's looks at what is trending right now. although donald trump's tweet with the spelling error ‘covfefe' has now been deleted, it still lives on. 0ne twitter has joked that covfefe actually translates to ‘i resign' in russian. another user cas created a meme

of the president sprinkling covfefe like glitter. others are debating on how to pronounce the non—word. cov—fe—feee or cov—feee—fe? and on reddit, one user has even shared a picture of their dad with the caption ‘my father is now the proud 0wner of a covfefe license plate. very ha rd to very hard to define. i think it was a typo as everybody had surmised. 2010 was a watershed year from indian—administered kashmir, one of the bloodiest in its already violent history. scores were killed in confrontations with the indian security forces. there has been a revolt in the disputed region between india and pakistan for almost three decades. many kashmiris want independence but indian governments have always

maintained that kashmir is an integral part of india. producer shalu yadav and camerawoman neha sharma met two men who took part in those massive protests as teenagers in 2010, and found out how they renounced the violence. nasa has unveiled daring plans to fly a probe directly into the atmosphere of the sun. the parker solar probe would be exposed to more heat and radiation than any spacecraft yet built. 0ur science editor david shukman reports. a giant flare leaps from the turbulent surface of the sun. these latest images capture scenes of extraordinary violence, but there's a lot we don't know about how the sun works, and how it affects us. and the best way to find answers is to get as as possible. so next year nasa plans to launch a specially designed spacecraft, to fly right up to the sun and endure the extraordinary temperatures there. scientists can't wait. the solar probe is going to be the hottest fastest mission.

i like to call it the coolest hottest mission under the sun. we are going to be moving at blistering temperatures, we are going to go right up into the corona. to give you an idea of how incredibly close this mission will go, the earth is 91 million miles from the sun. by contrast, the tiny planet mercury is 21 million miles from it, but a new nasa spacecraft will fly tojust 4 million miles from the sun. that is far closer than ever before. at the same time, the european space agency will also send a mission to the sun, and together with the nasa spacecraft it'll explore the stream of solar particles flowing our way. how does what we call the solar windfall, which is a constant stream of material radiating out from the sun at hundreds of kilometres a second, it is going to help us understand how the biggest explosions and eruptions in the solar system were formed. our son has a very dynamic atmosphere, and to fully understand it, you need to get close. 0ur sun has a very dynamic atmosphere, and to fully understand it, you need to get close.

mercury, crossing in front of the sun. the nasa spacecraft will go much closer. one big puzzle is how the sun generates such powerful bursts of energy, and this matters because the giant flares can affect us by wrecking anything electronic. the best way to understand these events, and to forecast them, is to get as close as you can. david shukman, bbc news. and before we go, let's take a look at these pictures. and to end with, let's just show you these pictures from toronto in canada, where the harbour was lit up by dramatic flashes of lightning on wednesday morning. london may have not been the sunniest day yesterday but it was the warmest with highs just over 23 degrees. i suspect over the next couple of days the southeast will get

very warm and hot as we drag in warm air from a near continent. this slow—moving front will bring a contrast to the far north and west and more on that in a second, it will be a mild start of all of us with some mist around, especially close to coast. that weather front a the slow—moving affair brings some rain will come to northern ireland and western scotland and will linger for much of the day. clouding over elsewhere is to be largely dry and there will be more in the way of sunshine across the extreme south. despite a little bit of cloud in the afternoon, temperatures still reasonable, 18—22. we could see 24—25 quite widely in the south—east corner, a good slice of sunshine. a different day for the north—west across the lake district, it will stay cloudy and wet for much of the day with a scattering of showers into the far north—east as well. the rain like a conveyor belt

sitting across the irish sea affecting northern ireland, to the south and east of that it stays pretty stick sticky. who that does mean on friday we will see a change. there is a level of uncertainty on how of uncertainty on how quickly the weather fronts will move eastwards. hopefully it will improve, the front sitting through the spine of the country by the middle of the afternoon but it stays very warm if not hot on the south—east and we could. and that is the general theme as we move him, we theme as we move him, could see 27—28. and that is the general theme as we move, some thunderstorms likely, a westerly feel to things and there will still be a good deal of dry weather with a scattering of showers but looking at the difference, 16

and 17 in the west and highs of 22 in the south—east corner. a similar story into sunday and a scattering of showers and a touch breezy about of late. just in case you don't have the message, this is the story, sunny spells but scattering showers and a fresher feel for all. take care. this is bbc world news. the top story... world leaders have condemned the massive bomb attack in kabul which killed at least 90 people. many of the casualties were civilians on the way to work. the afghan president ashraf ghani has described the attack as a "crime against humanity." the chinese premier li keqiang is in germany, where he's been holding talks with chancellor angela merkel. climate change and trade are expected to top the agenda. this bbc video —— this video is trending on the bbc website... it shows marathon runner dion leonard and the dog which adopted him, as he ran a 260 kilometre endurance race in china. he's been telling the bbc

about how they bonded, and what happened when the dog went missing in western china. that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news. and the top story here in the uk... one of the biggest debates of the election campaign has taken place in cambridge. seven party representatives were involved — including the labour