this is newsday on the bbc. i rico hizon and in singapore. the headlines: —— maggie throup. america says that north korea's latest military test is a sharp escalation. the united states are prepared to use the full range of our military capabilities to defend ourselves and oui’ capabilities to defend ourselves and our allies. hundreds of thousands flee their homes as severe flooding hits southern japan. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme, pa arab nations that have fallen out with qatar said that blockade will continue. and why more and more young people injapan are embracing celibacy. —— the four. glad you could join us. it is 7am in

singapore, midnight in london, and seven in the evening in new york, where the trump administration has warned north korea, following pyongyang's first ever launch of a missile that could, in theory, reached the united states' mainland. the us ambassador to the united nations has said that america would use what she called the full range of their capabilities to defend themselves and their allies. russia and china have said they are opposed to any military action. james landale has the details. today, on the coast of south korea, a barrage of missiles, fired by local and us forces: a simulated attack on the leadership, a show of force and retaliation, backed up tonight by hard words from the united nations security council. today is a dark day, a dark day

because yesterday's actions by north korea made the world more dangerous. their illegal missile launch was not just dangerous but reckless. it showed north korea does not want to be part of a peaceful world. with this launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, it shows it wants to threaten a number of states and, indirectly, the whole world. this is the cause of their concern: yesterday's launch what the us now admits was in north korea's first intercontinental ballistic missile, that experts claim could carry a nuclear weapon as far as alaska. today, north korea claimed the test had shown its warheads could withstand the heat of re—entry into the atmosphere, a crucial step forward of proof.

no wonder the country's leader kim jong—un looked so pleased. no wonder he was quoted as saying "the yankees must be quite unhappy with the gift we send them on their independence day." the problem is that so far the international response has been divided. president xi of china has called for restraint, and russia has warned against any pre—emptive military action. translation: for russia and china, it is absolutely clear that any attempt to justify a military solution using security council resolutions as a pretext is unacceptable. but it is china's reluctance to use its economic clout against north korea which has angered donald trump. as he left for europe, he complained about the growing trade between both countries, saying on twitter, "so much for china working with us but we had to give it a try." the question is what else the us might do. today's joint military exercises

were designed to show what commanders said could happen if us self restraints were lifted. i'm sure they will be looking at a military option. it's their bases under threat, their seaboard which is now within reach. but whether any other country would be asked to come and help is, at the moment, hypothetical. tonight, donald trump arrived in poland ahead of the g20 summit in germany, where the crisis will be high on the agenda, but where a united response looks unlikely. james landale, bbc news, warsaw. we will have more north korea in a moment. but first let's take a look at some of the day's other news. saudi arabia, the uae, bahrain and egypt have condemned qatar's response to their demands as negative and irresponsible. they broke all links with the gulf emirate a month ago, accusing it of supporting terrorism. the four countries say qatar doesn't understand the gravity of the dispute.

we cannot have a country like qatar thatis we cannot have a country like qatar that is an ally and in the arab league. and that posts at plans to fight al qaeda and daesh, and yet turns blind eyes to extremists who advocate suicide bombings and advocate suicide bombings and advocate young man going to war zones to fight. first of all, qatar has never and will never support any terrorist programmes. we will never allow terrorism funds to be raised in qatarorto be allow terrorism funds to be raised in qatar or to be channelled through qatar. we will take whatever measure we need to take to get rid of them. qatar's foreign minister there. also making news today,

the myanmar government says it's trying to create more jobs, after a new labour law in neighbouring thailand caused an exodus of migrant workers. more than 60,000 foreign workers fled thailand, a common destination for workers from poorer countries, including myanmar and cambodia. the eu and japan have broadly agreed on a free trade deal after four years of negotiations. japanese prime minister shinzo abe is set to sign the accord at a meeting with eu officials later on thursday. the deal comes days before a g20 meeting in germany at which president trump is expected to defend his protectionist stance on trade. dozens of government supporters in venezuela have stormed the opposition—controlled national assembly as a special session was being held to mark the country's independence day. they burst into the building's interior gardens setting off fireworks and there were reports

of shots being fired. president maduro has condemned the violence. let's update you on what's happening at wimbledon, and two—time champion rafael nadal reached the third round on wednesday, with a straight sets win over donald young of the united states. fourth seed nadal will face russia's karen khachanov for a place in the last sixteen. 0n the day a bbc poll named canada as the nation with the most positive impact on the world, prime ministerjustin trudeau has been in scotland to meet his head of state, queen elizabeth ii. mr trudeau also picked up an honorary degree in recognition of his commitment to equality and diversity. let's return to our lead story. with the last few hours, an emergency session of the united nations security council has taken place in new york. during the meeting the american ambassador to the un,

nikki haley said that north korea's missile test cast a dark shadow of conflict over the world. 0ur correspondent nada tawfik is at the un, and has been telling me about the divisions in the security council over how to deal with pyongyang. what we saw today was the united states really being joined by many of the western nations and japan and calling for tougher pressure on north korea. nikki haley said the window of a diplomatic solution was closing, and the united nations needed to use —— the us needed to use military options to defend themselves and its allies. that was on the table. she went on to say that other measures could include the us stopping trade with those who do business with north korea, and that the us would be looking to a resolution in the coming days to impose new sanctions. 0n the other side, you had russia and china, who, first off, were very critical of the united states talking about the military option. they said that was

unacceptable. russia and china have a joint initiative. they basically wa nt a joint initiative. they basically want the world powers to start speaking to north korea, to have a suspicion of north korea's nuclear programme in exchange for the us and south korea suspending theirjoint military exercises. so the russian and chinese think that is the row to go. they say sanctions have not been working, so they are not on board with further sanctions. it seems like the stakes are much higher this time around? absolutely. the security council has tried for years to impose tough measures to stop the advancement of north korea's programme. now, we have that they had tested a missile that could possibly hit alaska, and experts say that in a few years they could possibly weaponised out with a nuclear test. so certainly there is concern in the un security council. that is why the us ambassador, nikki haley, you can see the kind of honeymoon that the us and china have

had between president trump and president xijinping, had between president trump and president xi jinping, and had between president trump and president xijinping, and that has come to an abrupt end. and the council, she pointed directly to china, saying that china needs to do more and that they were the main trading partner making up 90% of north korea's economic activity. she pointed the finger at china. when she said they would stop trade with those that engage in business with north korea, i think she was really referring to the chinese, there. we go tojapan, we go to japan, now. heavy rain and overflowing rivers in the southern japanese island of kyushu have forced almost 400,000 people to leave their homes. a rare weather front in fukuoka prefecture, caused water surges to inundate homes and roads. forecasters have given a warning that heavy rain over the south will continue through thursday. david campanale has more. surging, foaming torrent of rain are not normally at scene like this in

southern japan. rivers have burst their banks under the weight of water, and landslides and muddy rapids have caused damage to residential areas. weather forecasters say the rainstorm is unprecedented. translation: we are in an emergency situation, as in grave danger. i would be surprised to hear that there is already serious damage due to landslide or flooding. over half a metre of rain fell in the space of just 2a hours, and the majority of that in just four hours. 400,000 people have been evacuated and there are reports of some fatalities. translation: if you are already in a situation that you cannot evacuate, please try your best to do protect yourself by going up to be second floor. it is this line of rain that has caused the sudden flash flooding. meteorologists said the storms formed in a zone of

convergence, where moisture laden south—westerly winds collided with wins coming from the north—west. this went on our after an hour, forming storm after storm that hit just the same place. the area is expecting more torrential downpours over the next few days. but with the winds changing direction, forecasters say the rain should not be in the same location, reducing the risk of repeat flooding. an alarming new warning on rising threats of famine around the world has been issued this week by the united nations. worst affected are the countries in central africa, and yemen, that you can see here. well, they have all suffered from conflict, and the impact of climate change. 0verall, conflict, and the impact of climate change. overall, the number of hungry people in the world has increased since 2015, reversing yea rs of progress. 20 million people are said to be severely affected with women in particular among the worst hit.

the high risk of famine is causing many to leave in search of better lives, impacting countries far away in europe. earlier, i spoke to bernd naaf from bayer crop science who is in singapore to address the world agricultural forum. he says science and agriculture is one solution to global hunger. the biggest challenge we are facing as far as food security is concerned is the growing world population. but there are other factors which impact on this development, such as climate change. we do seek changing consumption behaviour, for instance. water scarcity, another important topic that needs to be addressed. and then, finally, which can consider as important is the democratic —— demographic issue.

less people are willing to join the farming sector. but we are seeing growing populations and urbanisation. correct. by 2050, we need to beat 9.8 billion people. that is the latest estimate. we know that. you are right. people are moving into the cities, away from the urban areas. so very important here, to have the government applying these topics and making sure that staying in the urban areas is being motivated and supported. so agriculture needs much more attention. with that, we and bayer crop science are focusing on the smaller agriculture than ever before. what is the buzz right now in this world agricultural forum? how do we solve this issue of the growing famine problem? we need to improve productivity in agricultural land. we don't want more land to be

converted from nature into agriculture. so on the existing fields, we need to increase productivity. had you do that? it is possible. —— how do you do that. in africa, where good—quality soil, which gives the basis of higher yields, the farmers need access to higher knowledge. he needs to gain the expertise to better grow his or her crops. bernd naaf from bayer crop science. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: panda diplomacy. china's most adorable ambassadors charm germany's angela merkel ahead of next week's g20 summit. also on the programme: japan's celibacy syndrome. why more and more young people are choosing to go without sex. china marked its first day of rule in hong kong with a series

of spectacular celebrations. a huge firework display was held in the former colony. the chinese president, jiang zemin, said unification was the start of a new era for hong kong. the world's first clone has been produced of an adult mammal. scientists in scotland have produced a sheep called dolly that was cloned in a laboratory using a cell from another sheep. for the first time in 20 years, russian and american spacecraft have docked in orbit at the start of a new era of cooperation in space. challenger powered past the bishop rock lighthouse at almost 50 knots, shattering the record that had stood for 34 years. and there was no hiding the sheer elation of richard branson and his crew. this is newsday on the bbc.

i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: at the united nations, the us ambassador has described north korea's intercontinental ballistic missile test as a sharp military escalation. heavy floods caused by unprecedented rain have forced almost 400,000 people to leave their homes now, when politicians wear military clothes for a photo opportunity it doesn't always end well. that didn't put off france's president macron when he visited a submarine on wednesday. maybe he just thought he looked good in overalls. that's story popular on bbc.com/news.

let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the china daily leads with president xi and the german chancellor angela merkel‘s meeting ahead of this weekend's g20 summit in hamburg. both leaders signed a few deals and committed to expanding trade before welcoming two new pandas to berlin zoo, we'll be seeing them shortly. the philippine daily inquirer's focussing on the escalating tension over north korea. it reports that leader kim jong—un is refusing to negotiate with the united states over his strategic weapons capability until washington abandons what he calls its hostile policy towards pyongyang. the japan times covers that story too. its front page picture highlights the future of train travel, with this artist's

impression of the next—generation shinkansen. a 10—car test train,could be operational in 2019 and might be reaching speeds of 360kph. considerably faster than any train i have ever been on. sleek design, kasia! you just mentioned the pandas in berlin zoo. pandas are perhaps the most adorable ambassadors in the world. they've been a tool of chinese diplomacy since america's president nixon visited the country in 1972. now germany, host of this week's g20 summit, is on the receiving end of panda diplomacy. jonny dymond has more. they may look friendly, but do not get too close. china's loan ofjiao qing, "darling", and meng meng,

"sweet dream", comes from the global superpower with a price. it's worth paying attention when germany and china meet these days. germany is europe's undisputed leader. china's surging economic power is turning into global political muscle. the chancellor and the president are meeting before the world's 20 biggest economies get together in berlin. once it might have been america around the table, but germany wants chinese help in propping up a world order destabilised by change in washington. and china wants open markets to sell into and allies it can rely on. translation: this is pioneering for our relations. we're happy to note that, thanks to mutual efforts on both sides, chinese—german relations have

reached a new phase, in which we are moving on a peak level. the panda special came to britain in the 1970s, as china emerged from decades of isolation. ching ching and chia—chia were gifts, part of an effort to warm frozen relations. panda diplomacy it became known as. now, meng meng andjiao qing are making hearts race in berlin. but these bamboo guzzlers are on loan and they don't come cheap. nearly £800,000 a year. for some berliners at least, they're worth every penny. jonny dymond, bbc news. japan has

long been famed for its sexual culture. whatever your taste or fa ntasy culture. whatever your taste or fantasy it's catered for somewhere here. this is the country that invented love hotels, so what that has happened to japan's the youth? anna matsui is part of a growing

army of young japanese living sexless lives. 0ver army of young japanese living sexless lives. over 40% claim they are virgins. even more, over 60%, say they're not in a relationship. do you feel like a lot of your friends are like you, not in sexual relationships? are you surprised by this?! these women are clearly a little different. just, like, you know, you can feel... this woman is famous for making a 3-d this woman is famous for making a 3—d image of her own vagina and pushing so if young japanese men are all

watching porn on the internet, what about young women? it could be internet pornography, low self—esteem, or escaping the patriarchy. whatever the reasons nearly half young japanese are entering their 30s without any experience of sexual relationships. rupert wingfield—hayes with some very candid interviews. from rico and me, thanks for watching, let us know what you think online. bye—bye. hello again. more of that hot and humid weather coming up across england and wales. yesterday we had temperatures of 30 in both heathrow and wisley in sorry, and we're going to see temperatures again getting to those kind of levels later in the afternoon. mind you, for some of us there will also be some fairly big

thunderstorms around over the next 24 hours. the first place that could see storms is in the morning across southern counties of england but these storms will have about two miles of dry air beneath them so there might not be a huge amount of rain despite the potential for thunder and lightning first thing in the morning. with those storms may bea the morning. with those storms may be a bit of murky weather around the coastline but essentially a bit of sunshine for wales, the midlands and southern counties with temperatures rising quickly. cloudy and murky in northern ireland and disappointing in scotland with a band of rain pushing eastwards, temperatures at 9am about 14 or 15 in glasgow. through the rest of the day that first batch of storms works northwards, hot and humid conditions across england and wales with that humidity sparking further storms across the midlands and northern england later in the day and those storms could be more significant. meanwhile for the north of the uk temperatures creeping up to the 20 degrees mark, warmer than it's been over the last days for some, but

hottest weather in the south. later in the afternoon and towards the evening thunderstorms could get lively in parts of eastern england. not too many places this happening but one or two storms could bring the best part of a month worth of rain in two hours so could cause localised destruction. they will go to the north sea and then soupy conditions through the night in scotla nd conditions through the night in scotland with lowest temperatures around 18 in london. a quieter weather day on friday, england and wales with the best of the hot and humid conditions. more of that sunshine to come. a few showers in scotla nd sunshine to come. a few showers in scotland and northern england but for many a dry day. temperature wise still a range from the north to south, 17 in glasgow and 28, 29 still a range from the north to south, 17 in glasgow and 28,29 or maybe 30 still in parts of the south east england. the weekend starts with a band of rain in central areas, using two showers. the hottest conditions in south—east england but still relatively cool for the time of year further north

with winds coming round from quite a long way north. sunday looks like we'll be seeing the gradual change to cooler and fresher conditions across all of the country as we see low pressures tending to kind of gang up low pressures tending to kind of gang up across the uk, so those temperatures dropping for example in london into next week. hello. i'm kasia madera with bbc world news. our top story: the united states has told the united nations that north korea's letters military test is a sharp escalation. nikki haley told an emergency meeting of the security council that the international sanctions imposed on pyongyang for years had been insufficient and now they must do more. under president had rain and floods have forced almost 400,000 people to leave their homes on the southern japanese island of kyushu. forecasters have warned that rain will continue. and this video is

training on bbc.com. it is the president of france, literally dropping in on a submarine. that is all from me. —— trending on.