i'm in singapore, the headlines. authorities in indonesia are investigating the cause of a fire which left nearly 50 people dead after explosions tore through a fireworks factory. president trump accuses drug rings in china of flooding the us with cheap and deadly pills, as he declares the opioid crisis a national public health emergency. in our lifetimes nobody has seen anything like what's going on now. i'm in london. also in the programme. a court case in australia could decide the government's fate — with the high court due to rule on whether seven politicians are allowed dual citizenship. a third day of commemorations is taking place in thailand for king bhumibol who was cremated on thursday with mourners packing the streets. good morning.

it's 7am in singapore, 12am in london and 6am injakarta where rescue workers have been searching for survivors after a firework factory exploded in the indonesian capital. at least 47 people have been killed — others are still missing, and dozens were wounded in the blast in the tangerang industrial zone, just west of jakarta. the bbc‘s ian palmer reports. a factory building destroyed. just hours before it was full of workers but something went wrong. the fireworks inside caught fire. the explosion was so loud people living nearby said it sounded like a bomb. hundreds of fireworks ignited, the

fla mes hundreds of fireworks ignited, the flames spread, factory workers had just arrived for the day shift. the fire took hold, the roof collapsed, dozens fire took hold, the roof collapsed, d oze ns of fire took hold, the roof collapsed, dozens of people inside. the factory had only been open for two months. many of the survivors suffered severe burns and life changing injuries. the list of those still missing as long. the relatives of those affected by the blast have many questions for the authorities. translation: we have checked again with the disaster mitigation agency and local military to make sure that the site is clear to conduct a site investigation by our friendly team. the anti—bombs quad also sterilised the site for the remaining explosive material and we are still investigating to find it because the explosion. as the hours passed the scale of the disaster becomes clear. the operation of emergency team switches from rescue to recovery. the factory is 100 yards from the school. residential houses are

closer. the task will investigation tea m closer. the task will investigation team is to discover what happened and why. we will bring the updates as and when we get them. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. president trump has declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency in the us. accidental drug overdoses are the leading cause of death in the united states and they are responsible for a death every 19 minutes. 0pioid is a term that covers some legal painkillers — and some illegal drugs like heroin. both are serious problems in the us. mr trump also accused china of flooding the us market with cheap and deadly pills. the us postal service and the department of homeland security are strengthening the inspection of packages coming into our country, to hold back the flood of cheap and deadly fentanyl, acer bendik opioid

manufactured in china and 50 times stronger than heroin. in two weeks i will be in china with the president andi will be in china with the president and i will mention this as a top priority. and he will do something about it. and we'll be hearing later in the programme from some of the victims of the 0pioid crisis that's engulfing the us. also making news today: votes in kenya's re—run election are being counted in many parts of the country — but the poll was suspended in four counties until saturday. in those areas opposition supporters clashed with the police, and many polling stations did not open. the opposition leader raila 0dinga had called on his supporters to boycott the poll. a un—backed report has concluded that the syrian government was behind a chemical attack on the town of khan sheikhoun earlier this year which

killed about 90 people. investigators said the nerve agent, sarin, was dropped from an aircraft. syria has previously denied responsibility. north korea said it will release a south korean fishing vessel on friday for humanitarian reasons. the boat was found "illegally" in waters under the north's control six days ago, north korean state news agency kcna said. the boat and its crew had been captured on october 21. president trump has ordered the release of nearly 3000 classified documents relating to the assassination of presidentjohn f kennedy in 1963. however the white house said hundreds of sensitive files would be held back until april pending a review into concerns raised by the cia and fbi. pope francis has made a call to the international space station. the iss, which has been continuously manned since 2000, is home to six astronauts; three

americans, two russians and an italian, paolo nespoli, who was on hand to translate for the pontiff. the pope asked the crew a variety of questions including their views on man and the universe. now imagine turning up to work and discovering this. it's a 1.5 metre long alligator that construction workers came across which hit itself in an underground pipe in indian—town in florida. lucky for them, an expert was brought in to take the reptile to safety. police in indonesia are finding ways to arrest members of the lgbt community, even though it's not illegal to be gay in the world's largest muslim majority country. they've been conducting a series of raids on saunas popular

with the gay community. those caught up in the crackdowns have spoken out for the first time to the bbc‘s rebecca henschke. it was a typical friday night at us on our popular with jakarta's gay community when suddenly the police stormed in. translation: people were shouting get down, get down. i was terrified because i know in the eyes of the police everything about us is wrong. along with 58 men including foreigners this man was detained, paraded before the cameras and grilled about his sexuality before being released. translation: they teased us by performing sex positions and making crudejokes. it was all incredibly humiliating. some men were crying. the police said we

could be jailed for more than 15 yea rs could be jailed for more than 15 years for no good reason. five men from the raid are still being held, another six people arrested in an earlier raid on another sauna are 110w earlier raid on another sauna are now on trial. they face up to six yea rs now on trial. they face up to six years injail under the now on trial. they face up to six years in jail under the country's controversial 2008 pornography laws. but homosexuality is not illegal in indonesia. he vowed though to investigate claims of misconduct by police during the raids. it's the only

province in india indonesia where homosexual he is illegal. these men we re homosexual he is illegal. these men were publicly caned her having sex. ja ka rta were publicly caned her having sex. jakarta in stark contrast has largely been a safe space with a dynamic gay nightlife scene. these raids have sent a chill through the community. we try to be strong amongst gay friends, our lesbian friends, we are building up our own community so if something happened to one of us we will go there and support them. let's go back to the us now where president trump has declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency. the epidemic affects everyone — black, white, poor, rich, urban and rural. from communities across the us there are heartrending stories of parents who have buried their addicted children far too young. the bbc‘s rajini vaidyanathan has gone hagerstown, maryland to see the impact. she was very outgoing, she was an

exceptional athlete and all that was robbed of her when she was introduced to opiates and then eventually heroin. so this is the future site of her house. it's been two years since kevin simmons lost his daughter to a an overdose. she was just his daughter to a an overdose. she wasjust 19. his daughter to a an overdose. she wasjust19. a drug squad police officerfor wasjust19. a drug squad police officer for decades wasjust19. a drug squad police officerfor decades he wasjust19. a drug squad police officer for decades he used to lock up officer for decades he used to lock up addicts. then his daughter became one. never saw it coming, never dream that would happen. this has reached epidemic proportions and something has got to be done. for kevin that something means building a women's only treatment centre in her memory. he says the way to deal with the problem is through more investment in recovery and education. we are doing it all wrong. for every illness we are prescribed the pill. there is no education out here. kids are more

afraid to smoke a cigarette than the artistic percocet. kevin likes lives in hagerstown which sits on what is known as the heroine highway. this is with the slice of small—town america is now played by the crisis. this place could be any town in america. the scale of the opioid crisis here and elsewhere is huge. in this instead of maryland alone more than 1100 people died of opioid related industries in the first six months of the year and so the challenge for president trump is to come up with workable solutions to contain this epidemic. today the presidents announced what goes where. this epidemic is a national health emergency. he stopped short of declaring it a national emergency, a public health emergency does not allocate the same level of funding but does promise extra

resources and attention to the problem. we are working with doctors and medical professionals to implement best practices for save opioid prescribing. we can be the generation which ends the opioid epic emerick —— epidemic. generation which ends the opioid epic emerick -- epidemic. kevin also hopes it will force more americans to open up about an epidemic which is claiming thousands of lives. you never wanted to see your daughter was a heroin addict. you never wa nted was a heroin addict. you never wanted to say they had a problem with addiction in the family. but 110w with addiction in the family. but now people are talking to the kids and seeing it can happen to anybody because i am telling you, it can happen to anybody. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: president trump under fire again from his own republican party, this time from a former deputy secretary of state. also on the programme: it's usually birds that tweet, but this cat's tweets have attracted quite a following.

india gandhi, ruler of the world's largest democracy died today, all my yesterday she had spoken of dying in the servers of her country and said i would be proud of it, every drop of my blood will contribute to the growth of this nation. after 46 years of unhappiness these two countries have included a chapter of history. no more suspicion, no more fear, no more uncertainty. of what each day might bring. ignition and left off with the crew of discovery with the crew of six astronaut heroes and one american legend. this is beautiful. a milestone in human history. born

today, this girl in india is the 7,000,000,000th person on the planet. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm in singapore. i'm in london. our top stories: police in indonesia are investigating a fire which left nearly 50 people dead after explosions tore through a fireworks factory. president trump blames drug rings in china for an epidemic of opioid abuse killing tens of thousands in the us. an ancient human skull discovered in papua new guinea is likely to have belonged to the world's oldest—known tsunami victim. scientists say the area was once a coastal lagoon that was hit

by a tsunami about 6,000 years ago — that story is popular on bbc.com across asia. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. in the straits times, coverage of the funeral ceremony for thailand's late king bhumibol. the picture shows the urn being brought to the cremation site on a royal chariot. 0n the front page of financial times international edition, coverage of the story we brought you earlier in newsday — an opposition supporter in kenya demonstrates against the country's presidential election re—run. and in thejapan times, mount fuji. the paper reports the peak of the iconic mountain was covered in snow for the first time this season, 31 days later than last year according to the local prefecture. now, what stories are sparking discussions online?

yes let's looks at what is trending right now. this is "first cat" paddles. she belongs to jacinda ardern, new zealand's newly—elected leader. paddles now has her own twitter account and, although it is not clear who is behind it, she's gone viral! other political feline counterparts have been tweeting their congratulations to her, including larry of 10 downing street fame in the uk. australia's high court is set to rule on the political futures of seven lawmakers, including the deputy prime minister, after it was revealed that they all had dual citizenship. the country's constitution disqualifies dual nationals from running for parliament with the issue now threatening the government's one—seat majority. a short time ago, i asked constitutional law professor anne twomey which way she thinks

the court will decide. from our constitutional law point of view we are thinking they must have found some way to cut through all the confusion and the difficulty and to give some kind of a clear answer. so, but what clear answer they are going to give we don't know. it could be they are all disqualified, it could be they are all 0k, we'll have to wait to find out. it all bala nces have to wait to find out. it all balances on section 44 article one, explain to us what that means in reality, in real terms? explain to us what that means in reality, in realterms? when the constitution was written there were no australian citizens at the time, we we re no australian citizens at the time, we were all british subjects so it only excluded people from being members of parliament if they had a foreign legions outside of what was the empire. in more recent times the high court has said now the united kingdom is a foreign country to

australia and therefore if you have a foreign allegiance because you have aces and ship of the united kingdom or new zealand or canada or any of those countries which are all in play in the circumstances cannot bea in play in the circumstances cannot be a member of parliament. first you have to announce that citizenship and take all reasonable steps to do so and take all reasonable steps to do so before you even nominate as a member of parliament. the problem this time is that these people born in australia which achieved citizenship through descent from pa rents citizenship through descent from parents did not know they had dual citizenship so the court has to decide if you did not know you had dual citizenship did you breach the constitution because the purpose of the is to stop people having split allegiance. the argument is you could not have had split allegiance if he did not know you had dual citizenship. is this tenable in this case then, given as jolly as background and how many people have come from different countries to build this nation, is it tenable to

have this section 44? first of all because it's in the constitution and thatis because it's in the constitution and that is entrenched the only way we can get rid of it or change it is by referendum and then it has to be passed not only by the people but majorities in four out of the six states which is a high burden. the question is can the high court by interpreting it a bit more liberally see if you did not know you had citizenship then maybe you are ok. that would make it a little bit more practical and that might help people but the reality is in the end if you wa nt to but the reality is in the end if you want to be a member of parliament it's not too much to say you should renounce your citizenship of another country and your sole interest to be australia. the real problem is where you do not know you have dual citizenship and that's the problem the high court is facing in the judgment today. briefly if you would, that is exactly what people like the deputy prime minister are saying. quite right, i discovered in the course of doing this that like

the course of doing this that like the deputy prime minister my also have joule citizenship but i do the deputy prime minister my also havejoule citizenship but i do not wa nt to havejoule citizenship but i do not want to be a member of parliament so it's not a trouble for me but for barnaby joyce and others it's not a trouble for me but for barnabyjoyce and others they have to be at the moment more diligent before they become a member of parliament to check there and is history, to check they do not have dual citizenship lurking there otherwise they are in trouble with the constitution. tensions among republicans about us president donald trump don't look like they're any closer to being resolved. richard armitage is the latest one to lash out at mr trump. the bbc‘s sharanjit leyl caught up with the former deputy secretary of state in singapore, where he accused mr trump of not being a republican. to describe donald trump as a republican is not fair. it's not correct. he's nothing. he's not republican, not democrats. he's nothing. what does he stand for then? that's the question. he does

not seem to have any strong views on foreign policy our defence. hejust i think stands for himself. do you think you should be impeached?” don't think i would like to see my country go through that kind of rip, revolution, but if it comes out that high crimes and misdemeanours were somehow committed then it should happen. how do you view the situation in north korea, is it solvable? i don't think it can be resolved by diplomacy alone, i think it will take a certain amount of continued pressure and resolve, our south korean allies, ourselves and the japanese and the assistance of china and russia. i don't think there is any affection for kim jong—un but there is also certain conservative circles and bought those countries who do not want to see a quote ally and quote be cut adrift. i think we have our while to

90, adrift. i think we have our while to go, i don't think we are dealing with a crazy man or someone who is suicidal. my temper him is hedonistic and you can look at him and see he likes his life just fine. we are seeing a very resurgent china, a successful national party congress, it is reaching out to the region through its one belt one road initiative, are there are worries that china is starting to usurp the power and influence the us once had in the region? the question of china's surgeons from when, 1800? let's not forget china is full of contradictions, the fastest asian country in the world, think about where the population is going to be by that time, where is the health ca re by that time, where is the health care going to be? where is the water are going to be? china has their own difficulties to overcome, they cannot just

difficulties to overcome, they cannotjust spend difficulties to overcome, they cannot just spend their time difficulties to overcome, they cannotjust spend their time being all—powerful, all things to all people. that is what the us did for many years, trying to be all—powerful, all things to all people, do you think now with the trump administration and its eye is of the ball? with all due respect the united states did not try to be all things to all people, we had this grand programme and generally stood up for the rule of law and democracy, human rights, spoke out forcefully about those things. sometimes to very good effect and sometimes we were not so fortunate. so we will see how china wants to use her wealth and power. we will say goodbye because we are going to leave you with images from the talent capital bangkok where the funeral of the king who died last year at the age of 88 has been

taking place. his body was cremated in the golden pavilion is specially constructed for the funeral. friday is looking beautiful and sunny friday is looking beautiful and sunny across friday is looking beautiful and sunny across most of the uk, how about that? the morning might be a bit cloudy and misty in some areas particularly across the south but by the time they get to the second half of the morning and by lunchtime it will be a case of a beautiful autumn day. a lot of cloud and drizzle earlier on but now that's pushed out of the way it's moving further east and south, this high pressure building, squeezing out that weather front which will be just about finding the south coast during the early morning so temperatures on the mild side, the cloud and drizzle keeping temperatures from dropping to low, clear skies for the north will be sniffed the start to the day. but less gold in belfast, around 9 degrees, wherever you are across the country it will be

somebody within that range, the far south still about 11 or 12 and notice parts of somerset and devon maybe cornwall still underneath the cloud during the early morning, even a spot of drizzle, that you quickly fade away and then we are left with a mostly windless day, sunny skies and decent temperatures nothing to be sniffed at up to 15 around the south of the country. the winds a bit stronger across scotland, the northern isles will be blustery out through to boost the overall the next few. by the time they get to the early hours of saturday the winds strengthening across northern and north—western parts and the cloud returns of the atlantic, drizzle in places, hill fog too, quite a great picture on saturday for many of us but eastern parts of the country anywhere from aberdeenshire, the poor birds, down

to the south coast, these areas will have another sunny day. saturday into sunday we seek older air coming from the north, we are not forecasting a freezer anything it will just feel a forecasting a freezer anything it willjust feel a bit forecasting a freezer anything it will just feel a bit fresher compared to what we will have had recently. temperatures i think on saturday and certainly sunday around eight or 9 degrees across northern areas, showers scattered around, the further south you are the mild or it will be in london and in for example still around the mid teens. big contrast between the north and the south but still relatively settled with high—pressure, later on monday into tuesday we will start to see whether france marching in off the. this is bbc world news, the top story. police in indonesia are investigating the cause of a blaze ata investigating the cause of a blaze at a fireworks factory where a series of explosions killed at least 47 people. thick plumes of dark smoke bellowed from the factory warehouse near the

capital, jakarta. president trump has officially declared a public health emergency in the united states, because of widespread addiction to prescription painkillers, heroin, or other opioids. he said more than 140 americans died every day as a result ofan americans died every day as a result of an overdose. this video is trending on the website, pope francis mayday call to the international space station, asking the crew about their views on humanity and the universe. —— made a call. that's all from me, stay with us on call. that's all from me, stay with us on bbc world news. now, it's time for hardtalk will.