i'm rico hizon in singapore. this is newsday. the headlines: police in the us and uk launch investigations into sexual assault claims against hollywood producer harvey weinstein. oscar winner emma thompson adds to the allegations. this man is at the top of a very particular iceberg — i don't think you can describe him as a sex addict, he's a predator. hostages of the afghan taliban for five years: pakistani forces rescue a north american couple and their three young children. i'm ben bland in london. also in the programme. the dark side of the philippines‘ war on drugs: thousands of suspects are killed by police — some in rehab claim they're victims of brutality. and fighting london's monster ‘fatberg': meet the team with what might be the world's worstjob. good morning.

it's 8am in singapore 1 in the morning in london and 8pm in new york where police forces both there and in london say they're re—examining allegations of sexual assault, by the film producer harvey weinstein. in the us, police say they're conducting a review to determine if there are any additional complaints. mr weinstein has unequivocally denied any allegations of non—consensual sex. the british oscar—winning actress emma thompson has joined the long list of actors who've come forward to denounce his behaviour. she's been speaking exclusively to bbc newsnight‘s emily maitlis. i did not know about these

things but they do not surprise me at all, they are endemic to the system. what i find extraordinary is that this man is at the very top of a particular iceberg. i don't think you can describe him as a sex addict, he is a predator. he is at the top of the ladder of a system of harassment and belittling and bullying and interference and what my mother would have referred to in the olden days as pestering. "is he pestering you?" that's the word we used to use, if you recall. this has been part of our world, women's worlds, since time immemorial. what we need to start talking about is the crisis in masculinity, the crisis of extreme masculinity which is this sort of behaviour and the fact that it is not only ok but it is also represented by the most powerful man

in the world at the moment. when you describe him as being the tip of the iceberg, do you think there are others like that in your industry? of course. many. to that degree? maybe not to that degree. do they have to all be as bad as him? to make it count? does it only count if you really have done it to loads of women or does it count if you do to one woman once? i think the latter. another actress who has speaking on the issue is jane fonda. she sat down with stephen sackur from bbc hardtalk. she said she found out about harvey weinstein‘s behaviour last year and now regrets not speaking out. why don't they talk about it? because he is powerful, because they are scared. who are the women he preyed on, and preys on? young women.

most of them were in their 20s when it happened. vulnerable, afraid that if they say or do anything, it will ruin their career. i found out about him about one year ago and i wish that i had spoken out. why didn't you? it didn't happen to me. nonetheless... i did want to expose, i admit i should have been braver. from now on, i will be when i hear such stories. you can watch the full hardtalk interview with jane fonda on monday the 16th of october at 1930 gmt. let's get more now on today's developments in the harvey weinstein investigations from nick bryant in new york. police investigations are now under way on both sides of the atlantic. in new york, the nypd confirming to us this morning that they are conducting a review and in particular looking back at a case that dates back to 2004,

an allegation of sexual assault against harvey weinstein. the authorities here have also had to answer questions that they did not do enough a couple of years ago when the nypd mounted a sting operation involving an italian model in a hotel not too far behind me capturing harvey on tape seemingly admitting to groping her. cyrus vance, the district attorney in new york, has had to say, well, ther was insufficient evidence to bring a prosecution. 0n the other side of the atlantic, closer to you in london, the metropolitan police are saying it is assessing an allegation of sexual misconduct against harvey weinstein that dates from the 1980s in the london area. it was referred to them by merseyside police. as i say, on both sides of the atlantic now you have investigations under way into the alleged sexual conduct

of harvey weinstein. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. more than 30 people have been killed in floods and landslides in vietnam. officials are searching for a0 others who are missing, after several days of heavy rain. the north of the country has been hit particularly hard. also making news today, 29 people are now confirmed to have died in california's wildfires and the fires are still not under control. entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed. there are fears that a change in the weather will bring new outbreaks. the rival palestinian factions fatah and hamas have signed a deal to try and end a 10—year rift, after talks in cairo. the agreement will see the fatah—backed palestinian authority take over the administration of the gaza strip. take a look at this — united nations deputy secretary general amina j mohammed is interviewing a life—size

social robot named sophia at un headquarters in new york. she asked it what the un can do to help people who have no access to the internet or electricity. the robot told her artificial intelligence is the answer — it could help distribute the world's existing resources like food and energy. thousands of drug suspects in the philippines have been killed in police operations under president rodrigo duterte‘s war on drugs. the government there says the media concentrates on the killings at the expense of reports covering its drug rehabilitation programme. so our philippines reporter howard johnson went along to its 10,000 capacity "mega rehab" centre in the north of the country to see how it works. thousands of drug suspects have been killed in president duterte‘s war on drugs.

but the government says that over a million addict is being offered rehabilitation. so this is a central courtyard of the mega rehab centre which is around a three—hour drive away from manila. it was built in under six months and funded by a chinese businessman, a friend of the president. we were guided around the rehab centre by the programme co—ordinator for the rehabilitation of residents. most of these guys have been evaluated and part of the initiation process is that they will reflect on their past experiences. that is why they are facing the law. —— wall. is staring at the wall punishment? it is not a punishment, this is just the time to meditate. the day begins around 5am and patients are kept easy with activities including prayer and sport. they are also encouraged to monitor each other‘s behaviour. if they want this, if they notice

inappropriate behaviour, they will take a piece of paper, write down the misbehaviour and put it in this box. i spoke to patients to find out what life was like. do you feel safe yet? when we filmed at the centre, 13 people were under investigation for trying to escape. patients approached us to say these were the men we had seen earlier lined up against the wall. one man who wished to remain anonymous said some of the escapees had received beatings while another said they were being punished with solitary confinement. what is iso ? how long are they in for with solitary confinement? we put these allegations to the secretary of health at the time of our visit. it is not part of our

programme to have beatings, no. we will investigate that. but solitary confinement is part of the discipline that we want to instil in the patients. the government is keen to show off its mega rehab centre to prove it's serious about drug rehabilitation. but even at full capacity, this facility would only address the needs of a small proportion of drug addicts in the country, while the vast majority remain at risk of being killed in the deadly war on drugs. 0ur philippines reporter howard johnson. a young couple kidnapped by the taliban in afghanistan five years ago, have been released. canadian joshua boyle and his american wife caitlan coleman were freed by pakistani security forces, along with their three children who were all born in captivity.

0ur north america correspondent aleem maqbool reports. over five long years, the families ofjoshua boyle and caitlin coleman had only seen them in a series of videos released by their taliban captors. they really will not settle this until they get what they are demanding. the couple disappeared in afghanistan. bay, and then our three children, with reid after being ta ken into pakistan. joshua was finally able to call its mother. it is the first time in five years we got to hear his voice. it was amazing and he told us how much he looked forward, his children were looking forward to meeting their grandparents and that he would see me in a couple of days. we are waiting for that. it is believed their hostage takers had been demanding the release of taliban prisoners, a demand never met before pakistani security forces freed the family. i would like to thank the pakistani government. i want to thank pakistan.

they worked hard on this and i believe they are starting to respect the united states again. that is very important. i think a lot of countries right now are starting to respect the united states of america once again. the pakistani army raise the way american agencies worked with them. the success underscores the importance of timely intelligence sharing, said a statement. and pakistan's continued commitment towards fighting this menace. while both sides are unusually congratulating themselves on their cooperation, there will now be a lot of questions asked of the couple that has been freed about their time in captivity and about what they were doing in afghanistan in the first place. a short while ago, i spoke to alex edwards who was a friend ofjosh will boil. i found out the same way everyone

finds out everything these days, on twitter. i'm friends with his aunt and she posted an article. it is thrilling. absolutely thrilling. these last five years have not been easy for anyone and things were not looking very good over the last few months. last we heard, the government of pakistan had sentenced someone to death and the taliban threatened to killjosh, caitlin and their children if this went ahead. have you spoken tojoshua or caitlin since they were released? i have not. they are not back in the country yet and they will probably need a lot of time to recover and reintegrate. so right now the best we can do is give them that space to try to pick up their lives. while they were in captivity, you were playing a key role in keeping awareness and keeping the profile of their situation high. i certainly tried. it turns out that is a lot harder

than you might think. i did my best. it turns out that that was not good enough. i am grateful that the security forces of pakistan were able to get thejob done. this must have been a most agonising and stressful time for theirfamilies. were you in touch with their families during the captivity? i have only been in direct contact with his aunt but she has passed messages on from his parents. i know it is not been easy for any of them. i have not been in touch with caitlin‘s family but from what i read it has been difficult for them as well. i wonder, what is the first thing you will say or do when you see them? i will say that it is good that he is back. it is very easy to ask what were you thinking going to afghanistan but however foolish that may have been, he has paid for that many times over. it is important now to welcome them

back and make sure that they know we're glad they are finally home. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme — an extensive cyber attack targets australia's defence programmes. also on the programme, hold your nose parts of san francisco least affected by the earthquake are returning to life. but in the marina area, where most of the damage was done, they're more conscious than ever of how much has been destroyed. in the 19 years since he was last here, he's gone from being a little—known revolutionary to an experienced and successful diplomatic operator. it was a 20 pound bomb which exploded on the fifth floor of the grand hotel, ripping a hole in the front of the building. this government will not weaken.

democracy will prevail. it fills me with humility and gratitude to know that i have been chosen as the recipient of this foremost of earthly honours. this catholic nation held its breath for the men they call the 33. and then... bells toll bells tolled nationwide to announce the first rescue and chile let out an almighty roar. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon, in singapore. i'm ben bland, in london. our top stories: as harvey weinstein says he hopes for a second chance, police in the us and the uk investigate sexual assault claims against him. pakistani forces have freed a north american family held hostage by the afghan taliban for five years. let's take a look at some front

pages from around the world. starting with the japan times which is reporting that, with nine days to go before snap elections, the japanese prime minister shinzo abe's gamble may be paying off. according to the paper, a kyodo news poll forecasts a big win for the ruling bloc, although many voters remain undecided. the financial times calls it the latest source of tension between washington and beijing. it says that the trump administration is holding out against a capital increase for the world bank until it looks at its lending to developing nations, in particular to china, the bank's biggest borrower. and the china daily reports on a treat for fans of classical music at the beijing music festival,

with ten chinese orchestras set to perform an orchestral marathon this weekend. i'm sure it will be an absolute delight. the fate of seven australian politicians embroiled in a dual citizenship saga remains unclear after a court finished three days of hearings. all seven admit they may have breached the constitution by taking office while holding citizenship rights in other countries. among those affected include the deputy prime minister barnaby joyce. if he's ruled ineligible for office, the government could lose its one seat majority. our correspondent hywel griffith is in sydney. this case, it's fair to say, could have dramatic implications, and yet we don't have an outcome and we don't know when we will have an outcome. the mystery continues. it

has been rumbling on for several months, ever since the first of the citizenship seven said they might be in breach of the constitution. there we re in breach of the constitution. there were three days of hearing about high court in canberra, during which we heard lots of arguments around what article 44 of the constitution might mean. for anyone not familiar, what it says is that no one who is a citizen or has rights of citizenship ofa citizen or has rights of citizenship of a foreign power can take public office, but of course the lawyers come in and argue all sorts of things, that that can't be taken literally. of course it can, with all the do with interpretation. at the end of the hearing is no date was set for thejudges the end of the hearing is no date was set for the judges to make a ruling. except they are aware of the pressing need and urgency of the case but they won't be able to say anything immediately. one of those embroiled in this is the deputy prime minister barnabyjoyce. if he is found to be ineligible for office, is it an exaggeration to say that this could topple the

government in australia? it is entirely possible, because the coalition government in australia only has a single seat majority. it makes it very difficult for the prime minister malcolm turnbull as he tries to pass things through parliament. so if his deputy pm is ruled to be ineligible, barnaby joyce then would face by—election and you would have at least 33 days of uncertainty. and you would certainly have a strong challenge against him. that of course is all hypothetical and it depends what the justice rules, when they eventually make their decision. but this has been called one of the most ridiculous constitutional crises in the world because there is so much at stake over one single article, the constitution —— of the constitution, that everyone in australia should have known. thanks very much. secret information about australia's defence programmes has been stolen in a cyber hack. it included details

about new fighter planes and navy vessels. a short while ago i was joined by a technology reporter who told me these sort of attacks were becoming all too common. in november last year, the australian signals directorate was notified by a defence vendor that one of the subcontractors was shedding data out somewhere. but the attacker had been in some months beforehand at least sincejuly 2016, possibly earlier. you say that it has happened too often. why isn't the government doing whatever it can to protect its military strategy and plans? well, there are two answers to that. one is defending against hackers is hard. you have to get everything right. the hackers only have to get one thing you have forgotten. but the spin the government has put on this is interesting. they are saying that this small

defence contractor was a few layers down in the subcontracting chain and that securing that data is not really their problem, it is up to the vendors. the other issue they say is that the data was not classified, but it was commercial in confidence. now, that's not an outright lie. the data didn't go through the australian government. it therefore didn't go through a classification process. but it is part of the restricted data under the american arms export rules. so there is a little bit of word play going on there. but it does say that the australian government has a gap in the full supply chain security of this material going into the defence industry. if you haven't finished your brea kfast, if you haven't finished your breakfast, you may not want to after

this. this is a rather disgusting story. specialist teams are trying to remove what's called a ‘fatberg'. an enormous solid blob of oil, fat, cosmetic wipes and diapers, blocking an huge length of sewer underneath london. our science editor david shukman reports. in east london this morning, chris casbolt embarks on one of the worstjobs in the world. he checks a sensor that will detect toxic gases, he's given a constant supply of fresh air. this is what's needed to fight what's called a fatberg down in a sewer. we give chris and a colleague cameras to capture what they're facing. are you ok? yeah, i'm good. i asked to join them, but wasn't allowed. they're venturing into extremely dangerous territory. hang on, i need a hose. hose! they arrive in an alien and hostile world, a supervisor calls out to check the gas. what's the gas reading down there? in the hot fetid air, the fat releases fumes of sulphur. this narrow tunnel is the only

access to the fatberg, but right now it's too deep in sewage for anyone to pass. a pump is used to try to clear it, but gets blocked with chunks of fat. right, the suction's blocked. suction's blocked? yes. then the flow begins. it's dropping, mate, it is dropping. the way is now clear, but the tunnel is too low to stand in, so chris has to hunch and shuffle in the dark. at last he can do what he was sent for, hack away at a congealed mass of fat, tampons, wipes and condoms. it's blocking most of the sewer. pressure hoses can't be used because the brickwork is damaged, so it's one shovel stroke at a time, and it's hard to believe this is happening in 21st century britain. but the work can't go on for long, it's just too hard. look at how tired chris is and what he's covered in. it's horrible down there, mate.

there's so much fat everywhere, do you know what i mean? even upstream, upstream you can see 20 meters that way it's fat. do you know what i mean, it's solid. and this is a piece of the fatberg, a compacted mass of oil, fat and grease. it's rock solid and, as you'd expect, it smells a bit like a blocked toilet and rotting meat, and the real problem here is that the only way to get it out is by hand. the fat is hard to break apart, it'll be turned into fuel. but as one of the sewer teams recovers, the hope has to be that less fat will end up underground in the first place. david shukman, bbc news. its moments like these when you must be glad we don't have smelly—vision. that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. hi there. i'm going to talk about

hurricane ophelia in a moment, but first of all the weather here in the uk. this is the set up. low pressure to the north of the uk. a weather front moving in with some wet weather and tightly packed isobars, telling you it will be a windy day with gales around coasts and hills in the north and west. temperatures starting the day into double figures everywhere. so it will be a mild start. but windy as well. this area of rain will be slow moving across scotland and northern ireland. a damp start to the day across parts of northern england, and the rainfall totals really mounting up across the high ground, the cumbrian fels in particular, could see around 60—80 millimetres of rain before the weather system is through. behind that across scotland and northern ireland, yes, some sunshine through the afternoon but to the south of the front things turn increasingly wet through the afternoon. in wales the winds pick up in england and they should blow some holes into the clouds and occasional sunny spells are possible but overall we are looking at a lot of cloud. now, through friday evening and overnight the weather front stops moving southwards

and returns back northwards. we will be left with further rain across northern england and north wales for a time. slightly fresher air for scotland and northern ireland but it is not exactly cold, is it? 16 degrees overnight taking us into saturday morning across parts of northern england and wales as well. here is the chart as we start the weekend. the weather front pushing its way northwards with the wind coming from a long way south, dredging up some very mild air. where it is cloudy temperatures into the high teens. where we see some sunshine this weekend we could see highs up to 23 degrees. way, way warmer than it should be at this stage of october. now here is the chart for saturday. most starting on a cloudy note. rain moving away from northern england but turning damp for western scotland. rain for a time in northern ireland. a lot of cloud, yes, but mild everywhere and where we see sunshine it will be pleasantly warm, the best across eastern england. maybe the chance of a few breaks of cloud on sunday, and where we see those breaks,

temperatures up to 23 degrees but cloudy and wet and cool in the north—west of scotland. now beyond that we have to look at this, hurricane ophelia, which this weekend is going to pass pretty close to the eastern azores. from there is stops being a hurricane on sunday. the winds expand as it moves underneath a powerfuljet stream and this storm system works towards the british isles. it could go to the west of ireland. it could go across the uk. a lot of uncertainty about the track. it won't be a hurricane when it reaches our shores but it could bring some stormy, disruptive weather, so make sure you stay in touch with the weather forecast over the next few days. that's your weather. our top story. police in the us and uk are investigating allegations of sexual assault made against harvey weinstein. several actors have now accused weinstein of inappropriate behaviour, sexual harassment or assault. pakistani forces have freed a north american family held hostage by the afghan taliban for five years. the family's three children were born in captivity. pakistan's army says they were rescued after a us tip—off. and this colourful video representing the changing state of the ozone layer during the last year, is trending now on bbc.com.