i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: donald trump is coming to asia for a 5—country visit. his message? time is running out for dealing with north korea. protests as spain holds eight members in the catalan government injail on charges of rebellion and sedition. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme: detainees who refuse to leave a detention on manus island say they have to dig for water after australia closes the centre. a new species of orangutan is found in indonesia's remote sumatra jungles but they are already endgangered. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning.

it's 9am in singapore, 1am in london, and 9pm in washington dc, where president trump is preparing to leave on his first official trip to asia. it's a busy schedule, the longest trip to the region by a us president in decades. he will be away for a week, stopping first in hawaii before arriving injapan on sunday morning local time. from there, it's on to south korea, followed by beijing, then vietnam, before rounding things off with a visit to the philippines and a meeting with president rodrigo duterte. on the agenda is trade, but also the thorny problem of north korea's nuclear ambitions. "time is running out," the white house says. what exactly does he mean by that and what else does he expect his asia hosts to do? mariko oi joins us live from tokyo. tell us a little bit about what is anticipated from this visit. as you mentioned, not surprisingly,

north korea will be the main topic the two leaders will discuss during his stay. president trump is scheduled to meet with the parents of someone abducted by a north korean agent in the late 1970s at the age of 13. there are other issues like trade. the us has of course pulled out of the trans—pacific partnership. it might be that donald trump starts negotiating bilateral trade with tokyo while he is here. it is widely expected he and shinzo abe will focus more on their strong friendship and unity. not so much disunity over trade. it will not all be business. he and the prime minister will play golf. they have done so before, but they will be joined by hideki matsuyama, one of the best players in the world. he will also be meeting with the emperor as well. in the lead—up to the weekend,

it is not so much donald trump people are looking forward to seeing, but ivanka, who has given a speech about women in a meeting organised by the japanese government. she landed yesterday. i was watching tv at home. she is very popular on the street. i picked up a fashion magazine which had a big feature and focus on how to be like ivanka trump. if you look at her fashion brands, they have got a lot more orders and inquiries from japanese fans, at least japanese women. several networks were showing the empty escalator to make sure

they could catch her arriving live on television. the japanese public seem to be more excited about her than her father. we will get some perspective from oui’ we will get some perspective from our china editor later. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. eight members of the catalan government sacked last week for declaring independence have been remanded in custody by a spanish court. protesters gathered in barcelona to call for their release. james reynolds sent us this report from the scene these pro—independence campaigners have come out to protest against the remanding into custody of eight former ministers. "libertad, libertad," they chant in catalan. "freedom, freedom." bear in mind, just a few days ago, these ministers were working in this, the headquarters of the catalan government, the generalitat. but now the reversal

has been stunning. in a matter of a few days, those ministers declared independence, then madrid took over this region, and now all the ministers who work there are now in exile, on bail, or now in prison. and the town hall has reacted. in catalan there, there's a sign you mightjust be able to read it, "libertad presos politicos," "freedom to the political prisoners " and that will be a strong feeling among the pro—independence camp here in catalonia. the anti—independence camp might simply say that spain is now following the law. there will be plenty more demonstrations, probably from both sides, in the next few weeks and months. also making news today. president trump has nominated jerome powell to succeed janet yellen as chair of the us central bank, the federal reserve. announcing the nomination of mr powell, who's an investment banker and current federal reserve governor, president trump

described him as strong, committed and smart. the decision needs to be confirmed by the us senate. more than 700 civilians died in "execution—style killings" by islamic state militants during the battle for the iraqi city of mosul, according to the un. the group also allegedly used citizens as human shields. the un says they must be held accountable and also called for an investigation into alleged violations by iraqi forces. women will have to wait 217 years before they earn as much as men and have equal representation in the workplace, according to new research. women are paid and achieve just over half as much as men in the workplace, according to the world economic forum, which reported an economic gap of 58% between the sexes. this trove of artworks which was hoarded by the son

of hitler's art dealer have gone on public display at the museum of fine arts in switzerland. the collection had been in the hands of cornelius gurlitt, whose father, hildebrand, sold works that had been stolen from jews under the nazi regime. the pieces were discovered in 2012 after gurlitt‘s apartment was searched in a tax inquiry. let's return to president trump's first official trip to asia. he's due to visitjapan, south korea and china, before attending a regional summit in vietnam. the agenda will be dominated by north korea's nuclear weapons programme. that crisis highlights an underlying struggle for strategic dominance in asia, between the united states and china, as our china editor carrie gracie reports. a game where the past is america but the future maybe china. big stars are moving

here for the money and the eyeballs. there are almost as many chinese shooting hoops as there are americans on the planet. translation: the united states is still the one to beat, and it will take china time to catch up, but basketball is our national sport now and you can play anywhere. the rules of basketball are one thing, but the rules of the global power club are another. china's resisted american lectures on open markets and democracy. it's winning its own way. "america first," warned candidate trump. we can't continue to allow china to rape our country, and that's what they're doing. but when president trump played host in april, he needed china's help on north korea.

there were no trade sanctions. he called president xi a good friend. we're going to have a very, very great relationship and i look party comrades, applauding his promise that china will build a first—class military and move to centre stage. this is the generation who'll have to make that dream come true. explaining the map of asia from a chinese point of view. since world war ii, the us navy's patrolled these contested seas, but china's pressing its claim. and rivalry is growing. i think president xi and president trump should better communicate and try to compromise, so, maybe in this case, lots of the security problems can be solved or at least decreased. i do think there will be more rivalry but there also will be more

opportunities, artificial intelligence and many high—tech areas that need the co—operation between china and the united states. i do not completely agree with you. if we look back to history, we will see that a lot of wars have originated from economic conflicts. china's history has seen many great powers rise and fall, and it builds its us strategy brick by careful brick. president trump's visit is an important moment for china. the host will do nothing to antagonise his guest, but he has less reason than any recent chinese leader to bow to american demands. president xi believes the united states is in steep decline, and china, rising, in a power game to define our century.

carrie gracie, bbc news, on the great wall of china. as donald trump sets off on his tour of asia, his national security advisor has been setting out the president's views on north korea. general mcmaster says the world is "running out of time" on stopping the nuclear crisis and that the united states is prepared to defend itself if needed. north korea is a threat to the entire world so all nations of the world must do more to counter that threat. that is happening. but the president recognises that we are running out of time and we will ask all nations to do more. in particular, the president will continue to call on all responsible nations, especially those with the most influence over north korea, to isolate the north korean regime economically and politically. detainees who are refusing to leave an australian off—shore detention centre in papua new guinea say they're digging into the ground to find water. the camp on manus island officially closed two days ago and there's now no running water.

but the 600 men there say they are afraid they will be attacked if they leave the camp. i spoke to phil mercer in sydney, who filled us in on what conditions in the detention centre were like. well, according to refugees that we have spoken to, conditions inside the manus island facility are getting pretty grim. the electricity has been turned off, water supplies and food supplies are dwindling, and refugees and asylum seekers inside the compound say that physically they are drained, mentally, they are exhausted, yet still, they remain determined to stay inside the facility that closed down almost three days ago. papua new guinea authorities say there are no imminent plans to seize back control of the facility, and at the moment, australia and papua new guinea both say that it is each other‘s responsibility to look after these men. so, it is an impasse, a deadlock, that seems to continue,

certainly for the coming days, unless there is a breakthrough in court proceedings. the refugees are asking the supreme court in papua new guinea do reopen the facility as a short—term solution to this crisis. new zealand has offered to accept a small number, not all of them, but a small number, but australia has refused that. why is that? well, new zealand has been offering to take about 150 refugees from australia's offshore processing centres on manus island and another on nauru. now, australia has not agreed to that. part of the thinking could well be that australia doesn't want any of these refugees ending up in australia through the backdoor, if you like. if these refugees were to go to new zealand and be granted new zealand citizenship, they could be allowed to come to australia. and all the way through this crisis,

canberra has insisted these refugees on manus island and nauru will never be allowed to set foot in australia. so, this will be a point of discussion when the new prime minister of new zealand, jacinta arden, meets her counterpart in australia, malcolm turnbull, on thursday. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: after the man arrested for tuesday's attack in new york is charged, we speak to the british tourist who spent an hour in his cab last week. also on the programme: scientists have discovered a new species of great ape. we'll tell you all about the orangutan that's already under threat. the israeli prime minister, yitzhak rabin, the architect of the middle east peace process, has been assassinated. a 27—year—old jewish man has been arrested,

and an extremistjewish organisation has claimed responsibility for the killing. at polling booths throughout the country, they voted on a historic day for australia. as the results came in, it was clear. the monarchy would survive. of the american hostages, there was no sign. they are being held somewhere inside the compound, and student leaders have threatened that should the americans attempt rescue, they will all die. this mission has surpassed all expectations. voyager one is now the most distant man—made object anywhere in the universe, and itjust seems to keep on going. tonight, we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of ourarms, or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals. this is newsday on the bbc.

i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm kasia maderia in london. our top stories: donald trump is heading to asia on his first official tour as president. he's set to visit five countries with tensions over north korea's nuclear ambitions set to be high on the agenda. spain is holding eight members of the catalan government in jail on charges of rebellion and sedition. prosecutors are also seeking an arrest warrant for the ousted leader carles puigdemont. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the japan times is reporting that more than 30,000 drivers in the country are showing signs of dementia. drivers who are 75 or older are required to take a cognitive test when they apply to renew their licenses. the state run newspaper china daily is positive about president donald trump's first

state visit to the country. they say the visit is expected to yield positive results for bilateral ties, with a number of major business deals due to be signed. the international edition of the new york times has a story on higher prices for imports in the wake of brexit. it says one way the impact can be measured is by the rising costs of pineapples. what stories are sparking discussions online? this is a lovely story that has got people's attention. president macron is the youngest leader france has had in a century, and it turns out he is also a bit of a poet. when 13—year—old british schoolgirl sophie visited paris this year, she was so enchanted by the eiffel tower she wrote

a poem, sent it to the elysee palace. the president has found time to respond, in the language of the famous monument. the french embassy admitted they had translated it from the original french. myanmar‘s de facto leader aung san suu kyi has visited the south east state of rakhine for the first time since violence erupted there in late august. her brief trip allowed her only short stops in areas affected by the military operation against rohingya militants. the nobel peace prize winner has been criticised around the world for not stopping the military crackdown, amid allegations of ethnic cleansing. i've been speaking to 0liver slow, chief of staff at frontier myanmar magazine. he says aung san suu kyi met with remaining rohingyas. according to state—run media, this morning, she visited a number of villages up in northern rakhine, particularly around mangalore, where most of the violence took place, and she did meet with some of the rohingya communities there. she also travelled to some

of the villages where the government has said that those who can return from bangladesh will be able to be resettled. she also, i believe, met with some rakhine youth leaders around sittwe, the state capital there. did she see any of the 200 villages that had been torched? yes, according to state media she visited some areas, particularly up near the bangladesh border, which is where the government said they are gonig to resettle some of those returning. of course, this is hugely sensitive. why was it such a quiet visit? why was it not announced previously? it's difficult to know, really. it was only released yesterday, when she was up on that trip. she's kept it. . . it was kept quite secret. and then this morning, as i said, on the front pages of the state—run media. so they're obviously willing to publicize it in some way. but it is quite unusual that it was not announced beforehand. she set up a committee to repatriate the rohingya back to their homes but,

effectively, unless the situation with their ethnicity is recognised, it is an impossible situation, isn't it? absolutely. the government has said that they are going to allow these people to return but there are a number of factors that are going to make it a very difficult situation to return to. they may be allowed to return, many of those rohingya, as you mentioned, have disappeared. and people wanting to return, their villages are no longer there and many of those in bangladesh are too scared to return. many say they saw such horrible violence when there, there is a lot of fear so there's a lot of obstacles to overcome if people are to return. aung san suu kyi has been heavily criticised for not doing more, for not speaking out against the military. what options does she really have? not a great deal, as you say. as it has been well publicised, she does not have direct control over the military and i think this visit, while it is late in the day,

is one positive step she could be taking, to go to the area to see these areas. but there's so much more to be done. she has emphasised very much on a kind of more positive approach, about telling the media and telling the people, please focus on what we're doing. it is unlikely we will see her kind of speak out and condemn the military crackdown. she obviously has taken what she believe to be a positive approach on this issue. a libyan armed group holding a man in in connection with the bombing in may says it is ready to potentially extradite the man to the uk. he was the brother of the bomber and has been charged with attempted murder, murder. the militia group previously refused to consider the arrest. president trump has called for the death penalty for the man suspected of carrying out the truck attack in new york on tuesday, which left eight dead. legal experts say mr trump's comments, made on twitter,

may cast a shadow over future legal proceedings. meanwhile, a british tourist says 29—year—old sayfullo saipov gave him a lift as an uber driver, just a week before the attack. sophie long has that story. be advised, we have multiple people on the ground. dot. tuesday afternoon and lower manhattan became the scene of the worst terror attack on us soil since 9/11. in the hours that followed, as details emerged of what had happened, damien watched carefully. then a moment of realisation and horror, that he spent more than an hour in the company of the alleged perpetrator. when his photo came up if the cliche but i went cold, i was just like, though, he does look familiar, but surely not. it just though, he does look familiar, but surely not. itjust makes you feel sick, really. as he drove from newark to newjersey, damien said he

was friendly, recommended mr and they have been thinking about moving to the uk —— restaurants. they have been thinking about moving to the uk -- restaurants. he was very polite and rushed to help with oui’ very polite and rushed to help with our bags and we said by when he drove off. he was talking about america, asking about the uk, asking aboutjobs in the uk and he wanted to know how much an engineer would earn every month. after the initial shock of reflection. the experience hasn't put him off travelling to the united states. it is one of the best places in the world and i would be backin places in the world and i would be back ina places in the world and i would be back in a hard it. i can't change on opinion on a country of that size or any country, it is just one person out of millions. damien says he is 110w out of millions. damien says he is now helping the fbi with his enquiries as us authorities try to piece together the movements of this sayfullo saipov. a new species of great ape has been discovered by a team of scientists in indonesia.

it's the tapanuli orangutan, and there are just 800 of them left, which makes them the most endangered great ape in the world. 0ur science reporter victoria gill has the story. the remote mountain forests of sumatra are home to some of our closest ape relatives. and a small population here, first discovered just 20 years ago, has been hiding a scientific secret. this is the tapanuli orangutan, a species new to science. until now, it was thought that there were just two distinct species of orangutan, sumatran and bornean, like this big male here. but this new study shows that there are actually three — a tiny population has been hidden away and isolated by hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. early dna analysis suggested these animals were peculiar compared to the other sumatran apes. so, scientists embarked on a detailed study examining what they ate, and their unique calls. years of painstaking genetic comparisons enabled scientists to reconstruct

the animals' evolutionary history. the final piece of the puzzle, though, was tiny but consistent differences between the sumatran and this, the tapanuli orangutan‘s skull. it's an amazing breakthrough, i think. there's only seven, if we exclude ourselves, great ape species. so, adding one to that very small list is spectacular. withjust 800 known individuals, this species will go straight onto the critically endangered list. logging, mining and plans for a hydroelectric damn already pose a threat to its habitat. the hope is that adding this ape to the biology textbooks will help to ensure its survival. victoria gill, bbc news. let's hope so. thanks for watching. hello. thursday turned out to be a day of

mixed weather fortunes right across the british isles. for some, the morning fog became the afternoon fog. it really didn't get away from some spots, especially at the somerset levels. a coolish start to friday, despite the extensive cloud. but it is the fog again that will be concentrating my mind and should be on your mind across southern counties of england, especially for that morning rush—hour. bbc local radio will keep you up—to—date with the worst conditions, which could stretch from the eastern side of devon, through the west country, central and southern england and into the south—east. wales to the midlands to east anglia are more cloudy and maybe a spot of rain and dry weather for the most part as we get into the north of england. much of northern ireland and the eastern side of scotland. further towards the north and west, the new set of weather fronts coming in, the north and west, the new set of weatherfronts coming in, with cloud, wind and rain making slow progress through the day. much of

the fog will lift away through the morning as more cloud comes down towards the southern counties. we may find the odd glimpse of sunshine coming through. temperatures for most in double figures. a couple of sheltered spots in the east of scotla nd sheltered spots in the east of scotland despite the brightness will be stuck at 9— 10 degrees or so. 0vernight we have quite a dramatic change. the weather front is making itself felt in scotland and northern ireland, what we have more cloud and developing situation, with the rain becoming widespread in england and wales as we start the weekend. weekend off course is one for fireworks and bonfires perhaps, what it is turning colder eventually and there will be extra sunny spells and showers once and it will take time before we get rid of these weather fronts, which will ring in a fair amount of cloud and rain widely the start of saturday across the greater pa rt start of saturday across the greater part of england and wales. maybe the fight as —— far south of scotland as

well. further north and west a mixture of sunny spells and showers and showers and a north—westerly, a chilly one at that. that will take time before it works its way down into the south—eastern corner of the british isles and don't hold me to that exact timing of the rain getting away from the coast of east anglia and kent. it would be three hours later than that. but eventually i think the cold air will win out for the sunday looks to be more straightforward, with a mixture of sunny spells and blustery showers. especially in northern and western parts. a high of 11. 0ur our main story. donald trump is heading to asia for his first official visit as president. he is set to visit five countries as part of the tour. north korea is set to be high on the agenda. the white house national security advisor said that time was running out to deal with pyongyang and the president would push other countries to do more to resolve the crisis. there have been protests in barcelona following the arrest of eight members of

the catalan government. prosecutors are also seeking a european arrest warrant for ousted leader carles puigdemont. and this story is trending on the website. scientists have identified a totally new species of great ape, deep in the forests of sumatra. but the orangutan is so rare that it's gone straight onto the endangered species list. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk. for the first time in more than a decade, the bank of england