this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon, in singapore. the headlines: the search for survivors intensifies in mexico city after an earthquake kills over 200 people. rescue efforts are still going on in the rubble of a primary school, where 21 children have already been found dead. translation: i'm desperate, i want them to get the children out. i want to see something. the united nations human rights chief says sanctions should be considered against myanmar, over its treatment of rohingya muslims. i'm babita sharma, in london. also in the programme: hurricane maria knocks out power to the whole of puerto rico, isolating 3.5 million people. and we speak to the indian actress, priyanka chopra, about her work as a un goodwill ambassador. what do celebrities and their we

attach ourselves to organisations like this is we make sure that you carry my voice which would be the voice of all of these kids. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news — it's newsday. it's 8am in singapore, 1:00 in the morning in london, and 7pm in mexico where teams of rescue workers are frantically searching for survivors, after a powerful earthquake that's claimed at least 200 lives. dozens of buildings have collapsed, including a primary school where 21 children are known to have died, and many others are still missing. our correspondent aleem maqbool reports from mexico city. it is today the full scale of the destruction in mexicocity it is today the full scale of the destruction in mexico city

has been revealed. more buildings weakened by the frightening force of the earthquake collapsed overnight. and this is just one of the terrifying dramas playing out here. children trapped under rubble, confused and scared, but first one gets pulled out and then the other. they were among the young pupils trapped when their primary school they were among the young pupils trapped when their primary school collapsed, it happened at lunchtime moments after the earthquake struck. at least 20 children are known to have been killed here, many more are missing. this school has become the grim symbol of mexico's loss. translation: i am desperate, i want them to get the children out, i want to see something. this is my building. this is the moment the earthquake hit yesterday. those who escaped felt lucky to be alive. i was inside the building and it collapsed. everything came around.

cctv footage from a shopping centre showed the roof starting to collapse. this woman getting out of the wayjust in time. on their mobile phones, people captured countless shocking videos of buildings collapsing. many who survived wandered around in shock. it is extraordinary that even though much of mexico city appears to be ok, you can turn a corner and find something like this, a building that used to be apartments or an office block but where it has now been reduced to rocks and dust and where people lost their lives. also, all over the town, lines of volunteers, people trying to help those who may still be alive. as we spoke to the rescue workers they began to raise their hands

to ask for a few moments' silence to try to hear any cries for help. but no joy this time. people all over this city and beyond in the rural areas affected arejoining to focus their energies on saving any life they can. translation: we are organising with the volunteers, we have doctors and nurses, and working with our own materials and supplies from the people. translation: we need antibiotics, healing patches, wooden boards and ropes, blankets and food and medical help. but some now sleep on the street, afraid to be inside, traumatised by the violence of the quake. there may be a spirit of togetherness here now but there is also an acute sense of loss and fear. 0ur correspondent rajini

vaidyanathan is also in mexico city and she's just sent this report. the focus here in this neighbourhood is on the rescue effort. more than a day after the earthquake struck, people are taking in the horror of what exactly happened but there is also huge amounts of hope. this was also huge amounts of hope. this was a 6—storey commercial and residential property. it was com pletely residential property. it was completely flattened. it is just a rubble. throughout the day rescuers have been picking through the remains, trying to find signs of lies and officials say they have rescued as many as 2a people and they are not giving up hope that they are not giving up hope that they will find more people. hundreds of volu nteers they will find more people. hundreds of volunteers have flocked to the

area, many handing out bottles of water, hot meals, medicalsupplies. there is still a sense of caution as many fear the possibility of after—shocks and there were gas lea ks after—shocks and there were gas leaks in the wake of the earthquake so leaks in the wake of the earthquake so many people are urging people not to smoke and use mobile phones in case there may be gas explosions. in the week of the earthquake in mexico city, as many as 30 buildings were com pletely city, as many as 30 buildings were completely destroyed, not just city, as many as 30 buildings were completely destroyed, notjust here but across the city, at including at a school in which many young children's lives were lost. we will be talking more about this later in the programme. let's take a look at some of the day's other news: there were tense scenes

at the united nations where president rouhani of iran gave a rebuff to donald trump. at the un on tuesday the us president said iran was a rogue state and a corrupt dictatorship — rouhani responded, calling him a "rogue newcomer" to international politics and saying the international agreement over iran's nuclear programme should stand. rouhani said trump's speech criticising iran was "ignorant, absurd and hateful. " translation: it will be a great pity if this agreement would be terminated by new road players. such u nfortu nate terminated by new road players. such unfortunate behaviour would never stop iran's course of progress and advancement. —— back return. also making news today: staying in new york at the un — japan's prime minister shinzo abe said the time for dialogue

with north korea was over — and he rallied behind the us warning that ‘all options' are on the table for dealing with pyongyang. mr abe said "there is not much time left" to take action following the two recent missiles launches by north korea over japanese territory. the government of south korea will decide in the coming hours whether to offer humanitarian aid to people in the north. the unification ministry is considering offering eight million dollars in aid targeted at vulnerable groups such as children and pregnant women, via un agencies. and here's one happy little schoolboy — sidhak singh arora has won a legal battle in australia to wear his turban to school. the uniform policy at melton christian school in melbourne banned head coverings unless they were required by the christian faith. the boy's father persuaded a tribunal that was discrimination against sikhs — pointing out that in australia turbans are allowed in the police force and in the army, so why not at school. myanmar continues to be a strong focus of this year's united nations general assembly in new york, as international concern grows over the plight of rohingya muslims. myanmar blames rohingya militants for provoking the conflict that has

led to hundreds of thousands of rohingya civilians fleeing into neighbouring bangladesh. 0ur correspondentjonathan head has been to see how much — or little — aid the refugees are getting in bangladesh. we have had torrential rain today and for several days beforehand. it turned these and the others into a sea turned these and the others into a sea of glutinous, sticky mud, almost up sea of glutinous, sticky mud, almost up to your knees in some places. it extends right out into the flimsy shelters. this is one of the better established camps. up on the hillside, or in the forest, where people set up camp with just plaque —— plastic shelter, with no sanitation, no facilities, what we

have seen is impromptu aid efforts. charity coming in handing out now to anybody who can come and get it. they are absolutely chaotic. it is not clear whether people who need it are getting it. bread and clothing. far to much clothing has come here. still frantic scenes at people squabble to get the things handed out but there is no organised international relief effort, more than three weeks after this crisis started. that is striking. there appears to be political reasons why the un has not be allowed to scale up the un has not be allowed to scale up to the kind of massive operation you would expect with 400,000 desperate people showing up with absolutely nothing. there are still negotiations going on. individual vehicles and independent hate

agencies but not that organised co—ordinated effort you would expect to sit in a disaster like this. the longer these conditions go on the stronger the need. a night—time curfew has been imposed across the caribbean island of puerto rico in the wake of hurricane maria, the most powerful storm to hit the us territory in nearly a century. the us national hurricane centre says catastrophic flash floods are taking place in parts of the island. will grant sent this update from puerto rico. these are the last vestiges of the storm. an overnight curfew is in place, put in place by the governor and that will be in place for several days. partly to protect people from themselves. there are

accident that can happen in the dark as while the electricity is out. there are expected to be widespread flooding in remote regions but tha nkfully flooding in remote regions but thankfully no reports of large scale loss of life. there is still no end in sight to this uncommonly powerful hurricane season in the atlantic. and the longer it goes on, the more records it seems to break. hurricane maria, now the strongest storm to make landfall in puerto rico in almost a century. when it hit, it certainly felt like it. maria struck the island with winds of up to 165 miles per hour and dumped as much as 25 inches of rainfall in some areas along its path. that was on top of everything hurricane irma did here barely a week ago. the tiny island of dominica was directly in the path of the storm and apparently suffered some of the worst of the damage. the country's prime minister described the situation

as it was unfolding, calling the damage "mind—boggling". maria is slow—moving, creeping its way over puerto rico, meaning the window for potential damage and destruction lasted for many hours. the islands authorities had tried to prepare as best they could with thousands housed in evacuation shelters, others took refuge with friends and family. this is absolutely the worst hurricane experience i've had. we've lived in puerto rico for about the last 30 years, so we have experienced some. it was very loud, we heard a lot of glass breaking. we heard the waves or water hitting against the window. puerto ricans were relieved to have avoided the worst of hurricane irma, but it looks like they've not been so lucky this time around with hurricane maria. many here fear the same kind of devastation seen elsewhere in the caribbean, all of this happening on an island that is, lest we forget, currently essentially bankrupt.

manpower from the us emergency agency, fema, is on hand and millions in federal funds will be needed, particularly in the days to come. but most people in puerto rico can't get think about the clean up until they're sure it's safe to step out from their homes and shelters. 0nce maria eventually moves on, they can begin to assess the extent of the damage left in her wake. for many communities, though, maria has already finished off what are left behind. will grant, bbc news, puerto rico. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme — actress priyanka chopra talks about her work as a un goodwill ambassador. ben johnson, the fastest man on earth, is flying home

to canada in disgrace. all the athletes should be clean going into the games. i'm just happy that justice is served. it is a simple fact that this morning, these people were in their homes. tonight, those homes have been burnt down by serbian soldiers and police. all the taliban positions along here have been strengthened, presumably in case the americans invade. it's no use having a secret service which cannot preserve its own secrets against the world. and so the british government has no option but to continue this action, and even after any adverse judgement in australia. concorde had crossed the atlantic faster than any plane ever before, breaking the record by six minutes. this is newsday on the bbc.

i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm babita sharma in london. our top stories. a powerful earthquake has killed more than 230 people in mexico. at collapsed buildings in the capital they are still searching for survivors, including at a primary school. hurricane maria has torn a path of destruction across puerto rico. flooding and severe winds have knocked out power to the entire island. jake lamotta, the american boxer, has died at the age of 95. he was played by robert de niro in the martin scorsese film raging bull, that story is popular on bbc.com. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the south china morning post leads on the devastating earthquake in mexico. 0n the front page, it also has a story about china banning new north korean students

from attending universities there with extra surveillance for those already studying. the japan times asks whether president trump's fiery rhetoric against north korea at the un is a win for japanese prime minister shinzo abe, who has called for a tough response to pyongyang's nuclear tests. 0r — the paper asks — will the victory come a too high a price and reinforce north korea's belief that nuclear weapons remain the sole means of securing the regime's safety. and the new york times reviews an exhibition by chinese artists, set to begin at the guggenheim in new york, where artists question authority and, in some works, the concept of nationality. let's get more on our top story now that earthquake in central

mexico. jorge navarro is response manager for the charity world vision in mexico city. he's on the line now. thank you forjoining us. tell us exactly what is happening with the rescue operation that you are in charge of? it is a pleasure to be here and talking to you guys. tell us here and talking to you guys. tell us what is happening around you? i know there is a huge rescue operation under way, how is it progressing? rescue operations are taking their time. it is not only an emergency in terms of the earthquake from yesterday, it is from two days ago and the hurricane in that impacted a few days ago also. the problem we are having right now, and units are being disbursed and trying to ta ke units are being disbursed and trying to take care of as much as possible.

right now we are seeing people deployed from other countries that the experts on search and rescue operations. they are taking their time, this type of operation, they are always very slow and stressful. tell me what the biggest challenges, you believe, for the organisations like yourself and the emergency workers operating in mexico city? 0ne workers operating in mexico city? one of the biggest challenges is establishing how many people are there. because of this size, the areas have been affected in two different states of mexico. we are pretty well connected in mexico city, there are some rural areas in which we are still having some problems to get there. managing and getting to know the exact number of people, it has been quite challenging. when the story was

breaking yesterday, we heard about the fact that there were reports of gas leaks the fact that there were reports of gas lea ks and the fact that there were reports of gas leaks and no electricity in the area. iamjust gas leaks and no electricity in the area. i am just wondering if that situation has changed at all after 24 hours? no, that won't change for at least a week or a week and a half. they have shut down electricity and gas in several spots in the city. right now, world vision has to go, one of the things we are doing is establishing spaces for treating post—traumatic stress disorder with the kids. we are helping with food and electric generators around the city. helping with food and electric generators around the citylj helping with food and electric generators around the city. i know you are also offering free wi—fi. for now, we are grateful for your time, thank you so much forjoining us. the first group of refugees

from australia's offshore detention centres is to be resettled in the us within weeks, the australian prime minister has confirmed. nearly 2,000 men, women and children are held on papua new guinea's manus island and nauru. most of them have been given refugee status but many have been held for years in conditions criticised by human rights organisations. earlier i spoke to dr barri phatarfod who's the president of doctors for refugees who gave me her reaction. for the people who have been affected by it, it is very welcome. as you've mentioned, many of these individuals have been held on madness island and nauru for up to four mac years. —— manus island ——4 yea rs. four mac years. —— manus island ——4 years. many people have been degraded and have lived in tents where it gets up to 40 celsius. what

do they need to get resettled in to adjust from the refugee camp life to the us life? in a sense, it is pretty similar to what most refugee groups need when they arrive at a host country. initially, there would be things like basic accommodation, medical care and maybe some basic living expenses. many of the people do want to work. the people that we have spoken with, many are very highly skilled. we have spoken with journalists, scientists, engineers, some well—known cartoonists and entertainers. the people i have spoken with have got very good english. while not everyone has got higher english level skills, and they will require english languages,

it is pretty much the same as people who have been leaving, coming straight from syria and refugee camps, but they have been held in australian detention centres for four years. the un general assembly isn'tjust a meeting for world leaders — celebrities also make an appearence including priyanka chopra. the indian actress, singer, film producer is also the goodwill ambassador for the united nation's childrens fund. she's been speaking to our north america correspondent, laura trevelyan. i started working with unicef 12 years ago. i had a great relationship with them. i have been an advocate and voice to many girls and boys around the world. being from a developing country like india, if i did not have the advantages my parents gave me, to be a woman of the world, i would be like many of those voiceless girls, get married at 13, have children at 16, and don't get to go to school because they are young mothers, not children. you have been around

the world on behalf of the un's children's fund. is there a story that stands out to you about a girl who did not get her childhood because she was married so young? i was injordan recently meeting syrian refugees. a lot of the girls get married at 13—14. they were having conversations about how much they want to go back to school, but society stigmatises them and says you should be ashamed of yourself, you are the mother of two children, you want to go back to school, but they are 15—16. what changed me was that she said, my husband and i will never let that happen to our daughter. it is absolutely generational, because her mother got married young as well. what difference can you make to

those girls? what can i do, what can celebrities do when we attach ourselves to organisations like this? you attach my voice to all of these kids, to people who consume p0p these kids, to people who consume pop culture. that fortunately or u nfortu nately pop culture. that fortunately or unfortunately is a lot more people. you read a lot more about me tripping on the red carpet than you would read about my trip to a refugee camp. i am at the means to an end,i refugee camp. i am at the means to an end, iam refugee camp. i am at the means to an end, i am not anything, refugee camp. i am at the means to an end, iam notanything, i refugee camp. i am at the means to an end, i am not anything, i am instrumental in getting these voices heard in pop culture and in society getting recognition. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. keep up—to—date with all of our stories on the bbc news website.

hello. the same weather system that produced a very wet wednesday in northern ireland is gradually pushing further east across the uk during thursday. here it is. at least to begin today, there will be heavy rain bursts in western areas. we are looking at things at eight o'clock in the morning. you can see it in the west of wales into south—west scotland. all points east of that should be fine and dry. a mild morning compared to wednesday. but the overnight rain is pushing away from northern ireland. something sunny not far away. it is a bit lighter the further north you are. some of us in eastern scotland will start the day dry. it is very slowly going east. even by the end of the afternoon it won't be into eastern england. ahead of this weather system, in some sunshine, feeling quite cooler. but the sun will come out. northern ireland, scattered heavy showers. some pushing in the western parts of scotland through the day, especially into the western isles. that weather system is just creeping into western parts of eastern england that

stayed dry on thursday. thursday night, a chilly night into friday morning. widely into single figures, low single figures in some spots, a few patches of mist and fog. northern ireland, another system of weather coming in with rain. a gale in the irish sea. that rain is gradually edging into other western and northern parts of the uk into friday. again, leaving much of central and eastern england dry. pulling away from northern ireland, with sunny spells coming back. the weekend starts with a frightening area of low pressure, but most of the energy is pushing away to the north. a weaker weather front heading our way slowly as the weekend goes on. a gale in places. a mild breeze blowing elsewhere across the uk. sunny spells developing from the south. the odd spot of rain shifting northwards through the day. a weather front weakening in the west

of the uk. ahead of that, we'll see the higher temperatures. some spots are into the low 20s perhaps. hurricane maria is out of mexico and is moving close to the north—east coast of the dominican republic. it could be a major hurricane cloe to the turks and caicos islands by friday. i'm babita sharma with bbc world news. our top story: the search for survivors of the mexico earthquake continues, with emergency crews and volunteers digging through rubble with their hands. 230 people are known to have been killed across the country, including at least 21 children

at a school in mexico city. in puerto rico hurricane maria has cut power supplies to the entire population of 3.5 million people. it's the second maximum strength storm to hit the caribbean in two weeks. tributes have been payed to the boxing champion, jake lamotta, who's died at the age of 95. the actor robert de niro, who won an oscar playing la motta in the film "raging bull", issued a statement saying: "rest in peace, champ." stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: in a speech to the un general assembly, theresa may urges internet firms to act more quickly to stop the spread