this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines... seen from space. preparations for north korea's massive military parade — just in time for the olympics. as kim jong—un sends his own sister to represent him at the games, japan warns the world not to be taken in by the north's charm offensive. and i'm sharanjit leyl in london. also on the programme: china shows off its latest surveillance fashion accessory — facial recognition glasses at the service of the security forces. and, remember this moment? well, we catch up with the man behind the viral video that put his family in the media spotlight. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. glad you could join us.

it's 9am in singapore, 1am in the morning in london, and 9.30am in pyongyang, where north korea says it has no intention of using the winter olympics in south korea as an opportunity to hold talks with officials from the united states — something that the us vice president mike pence hadn't ruled out. on the eve of the winter olympics opening ceremony, north korea is preparing to display its military might in a military parade. these satellite images show the preparations being made at a military base in the north korean capital. the parade will mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of its army, and according to one source, as many as 13,000 troops are practicing. it comes as the opening ceremony of the winter olympics — dubbed by south korea's president as the "peace olympics" — is set to take place. for more, let's cross now to the bbc‘s china correspondent. stephen mcdonell, who is in pyeongchang in south korea.

united states and north korea are sending high—level delegations to the winter olympics, you have vice president mike pence arriving later today and you have the sister of kim jong—un are leading the north korean delegation, but it seems like pyongyang is not willing to talk to the americans? yes, that's right. the latest we're hearing from official state media in north korea is that a delegation from that country has no intention whatsoever of meeting with the united states delegation here at the pyeongchang winter olympics. they might not be an official meeting but i guess you never know, mike pence could still bump into kim jong—un‘s sister at the opening ceremony here tomorrow. but in terms of planning an official gathering or something like that, the north koreans are saying in an editorial, that we have never gone begging to the us for dialogue in

the past and we don't intend to in the past and we don't intend to in the future. and you have the north korean military parade and there are fears that it could even upstaged the opening ceremony of the winter games. yes, i mean it does seem kind of odd thatjust when north korea is about to achieve this big public and crew here in south korea with its unexpectedly high level of engagement with the winter olympics, what would you do to try and counter that? we will stage our own big, scary military parade just across the border to remind everyone of your nuclear weapons programme. “— propaganda coup. that parade has been planned for a long time now, so they could not call it. it'll be interesting to see what commentators and even ordinary people queue at

the games maker that. thank you so much for updating us, live from pyeongchang in south korea. we will have more on military parades later in the programme, and how president trump is planning one in washington. but for now, let's have a look at another story coming out of the american capital. and senators have announced a two year budget deal to avoid a repeat of last month's government shutdown. the agreement would increase government spending by hundreds of billions of dollars, including on the military and infrastructure. but it does still need the approval of congress, and of the president. earlier, i spoke to our correspondent in washington, david willis. i began by asking him whether this budget deal is likely to be approved by congress. that is the big question. we have moved closer today to avoiding another government shut down here, that bipartisan bill approved by the senate, or agreed in the senate a nyway to senate, or agreed in the senate anyway to be voted on tomorrow. then

it will go to the house before president trump can sign it into law, and there is the rub, as shakespeare would say because there are democrats in the house who want the same sort of agreement that democrats in the senate got from the leadership there. namely, they want a commitment to have a follow—up bill on immigration, that addresses the plight of the so—called dreamers, these are people we have been hearing a lot about recently, there are more than a million of them, they were brought to this country illegally through no fault of their own. the democrats want to see them protected and certainly in the house anyway, they were looking to tie this budget agreement, this two year budget agreement, which will be quite something really, to the plight of the dreamers. nancy pelosi, the house and 90 metre, has been on herfeet pelosi, the house and 90 metre, has been on her feet now for more than seven hours. she is talking about the plight of the dreamers, it is

not actually a filibuster that she is certainly getting her point across. she set a record short while ago for the longest continuous speech since 1909. also making news today... rescuers in taiwan are searching for people trapped after an earthquake struck the city of hualien on tuesday. at least seven people were killed and 250 injured, but some 67 are still unaccounted for. aftershocks continue to rattle the country, the strongest a 5.7 magnitude. rescue efforts are being focused on buildings tilting precariously. it is the most difficult part of the rescue, because it is tilting by more than 50 degrees. all our rescuers, who are entering the building, if it collapses, all of them will be killed immediately. the latest syrian government airstrikes in the suburb of damascus have

killed more than 100 people, including many children. that is according to a monitoring group. eastern ghouta has been under heavy bombardment ‘s recently, this has been the heaviest death toll in more than two months. united nations has called for a ceasefire. chancellor angela merkel has promised a good and stable german government if a coalition deal she's struck with the centre—left social democrats is approved. she's spent more than four months trying to form a government since inconclusive elections. the social democrats have promised party members a vote on whether to accept the deal. and take a look at this, the iconic eiffel tower in paris has been shut, after a cold snap blanketed the french capital in six inches of snow. commuters have been trapped in their cars as authorities tried to clear the snow. but some tourists and locals have been making the most of the weather. "the world must not be taken in by north korea's charm offensive"

— that is what the japanese foreign minister taro kono tells the bbc. he was speaking as relations between the two koreas appear to be thawing, ahead of the winter olympics in pyeongchang. mr kono told our tokyo correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes that sanctions are biting, and are the only way forward. for weeks, rumours have been swirling that the trump administration is preparing a military strike against north korea. a so—called bloody nose to force pyeongyang to the negotiation table. last month, these b2 stealth bombers arrived at a us base on the island of guam. but japan's foreign minister tara kono told me such speculation should not be taken seriously. a military strike on north korea is far too risky.

south korea's capital, seoul, is only 30 kilometres from the border. if any military action's taken, the repercussions are outrageous. method, —— so i don't think anyone is seriously considering taking a military method, but in order to get north korea to come to the dialogue, i think we need to increase pressure on them. in his new year message, the north korean dictator kim jong—un described the latest sanctions against his country as life—threatening. they include a ban on north korean exports of coal, iron and seafood, and a cut on the import of oil. mr kono says that shows that they are

starting to work. sanctions are biting. we now have a lot of indications that the sanctions are biting. what do you think is going on with this sudden rapprochement over the winter olympics? that is one of the indications that the sanctions are working. they wanted to do something and they wanted to do a sort of charm offensive towards south korea. i think north korea wants more, but i don't think the international community are ready to give them anything. on friday, north and south korean athletes will walk side by side as the winter olympics opens in pyeongchang. but mr kono says the world must not be taken in by pyongyang's charm offensive or intimidated by the growing nuclear threat. if they use their missile or nuclear capability, there will be no more north korea.

and they know it. but they are just making a threat. they are sitting in the middle of the sanctions and eventually they will run out of resources. so you are prepared to play a long game? yes. the sanctions is not going to work in days or weeks. it takes months. we have to be patient and we have to be well co—ordinated. that's the only way. the alternative is some kind of military action, which no—one wants. police in china have started using sunglasses featuring facial recognition technology. the glasses are linked to an internal database of suspects and allow officers to scan the crowds looking for suspects. the state says that the glasses have already helped police to catch seven individuals, but there are fears that they could be used to track and profile political dissidents

and ethnic minorities. there are also concerns about what this means for the further development of china's surveillance programme. earlier, i spoke with the china director of human rights watch about how worrying this technological development is. these sunglasses look very matrix or robocop, but the impulse is very orwell. police are already extraordinary really powerful and we have documented the use of different technology to extend that power without any protections for ordinary citizens. they may not even know they are being surveilled and even if they are, do not have the ability to challenge that. and our concerns are that the police can in fact profile certain kinds of people, even if they have not committed a crime. right. and of course, many of these are ethnic minorities, particularly in places

like xinjiang province, where groups have been targeted. there are other forms of surveillance used as well including dna profiling. can you tell us anything more about that? we learned that late in 2017 that under the guise of a free public health programme, police across xinjiang were gathering dna samples from everyone between the ages of 12 and 65. and again, people were given no justification, they were not given the opportunity to opt out. they have no idea of how their bio data will be used or stored by the authorities. this violates a number of different human rights, not least the medical information is meant to be private. this campaign is in no way linked to any kind of credible identified threat that would justify using such a broad based and intrusive programme. right.

now you say, china is violating human rights, but in terms of surveillance, if you have a look at the numbers, they have an estimated 170,000 cctv cameras watching people. however, looking at countries like the uk, where i am, estimates suggest there are about 5 million cctv cameras watching people. so, how is what china doing any different from what more liberal western societies are also doing? well, first of all, if you and i were in china we would not be having this conversation live on national television. we would not have the ability to challenge this, nor the ability to put any kind of limitation on how that data is used once it's been gathered. so i think there are enormous differences in how states,

that have an obligaiton to provide public safety. manage the use of these technologies. you're watching newsday on the bbc. live from london and singapore. still to come on the programme: will the rohingya refugees ever return to their homes? we check out the problems on the ground in myanmar. there's mr mandela. mr nelson mandela, a free man, taking his first steps into a new south africa. iran's spiritual leader ayatollah khomeini has said he's passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti have flocked

to church to give thanks for the ousting of their former president, 'baby doc' duvalier. because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special secure box in the stud farm's central block. shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had brought with them. there stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning. elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories. head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm sharanjit leyl in london. our top stories. is north korea prepares for a

massive military parade, its leadership says there will not be any talks with the united states during the winter olympics in south korea. meanwhile japan's foreign minister has told the bbc that international sanctions are hurting north korea and will lead to talks on its nuclear programme. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the japan times is concentrating on the earthquake that hit taiwan on tuesday night. there are some incredible pictures of partly collapsed buildings — including this one — showing a massive crack in the road. the south china morning post is following suit with a headline "life in the balance". rescuers don't know how many people are still trapped in this residential building. and dubai's gulf news is looking to the skies and at the spacex rocket launch. it's reporting the live video of the falcon heavy rocket taking off was youtube's second

biggest live stream ever. the first was the red bull stratos jump. now, what are people watching online? remember this moment? it was one of the most watched videos of the year. professor robert kelly was in the middle of a live interview with the bbc from his home in south korea when his two children burst into his office. they were followed shortly after by his wife who tried to do a bit of damage limitation. professor kelly's in london for the broadcast tv awards, and he's just won the best tv moment of the year. we couldn't let him come so close to our studios without getting him to talk to us again. i do not think of myself as a celebrity. i didn't want this. i don't mind it. it's not bad. we've gotten many nice gifts and e—mails. but, i mean, it's not something we sought.

i'm not in the media business. it's not my profession. it's a weird moment. people take photographs of me. even if i am just getting out of my car and buying milk at costco, i was recognised while doing that. they were like, "you are that guy?" "yeah." then they want a picture. it's bizarre. well, he's getting used to becoming a celebrity. especially now he's won the tv moment of the year award in london. here he is pictured here with our presenterjames menendez. the british government's assessments, predicting the possible economic impact of brexit, suggest that growth will be hit hardest in those regions where the leave vote was strongest. the analysis, drawn up

for the department for exiting the eu, looked at scenarios ranging from leaving with no deal to remaining within the eu single market. can they go back? will the more than 700,000 muslim rohingyas who fled to bangladesh last year ever return to myanmar? an agreement between the two countries for this to start was finalised last month, yet the obstacles to a large—scale repatriation are formidable. our correspondent jonathan head has been in rakhine state — where he sent us this report. these old temples are all that's left of what was once a powerful buddhist kingdom. they're a reminder to the rakhine people, now some of the poorest in myanmar, of how far they have fallen. and it's that sense of humiliating decline, a favourite theme of local politicians, which has stirred up

a dangerous fear in the rakhine of being squeezed, on the one side by the burmese state, and the other, by a massive muslim population. five years ago, they turned on their muslim neighbours. dozens died in this part of rakhine. many rohingya communities were completely destroyed. the survivors, confined by the government to squalid camps. this was the start of a bitter ethnic conflict which led to the flight of 700,000 refugees to bangladesh last year. but their rakhine neighbours have little sympathy. they have their own complaints. they blamed the government for their poverty. and they all had tales to tell of violent disputes with muslims. "we can't have them

here," they said. and yet they remembered living together peacefully once. no—one was sure why that had changed. all the statues, all the buddha images, were... this man works as a tour guide in the ruins. he is also a rakhine political activist fearful for the future of his community. i asked him if they could accept the rohingya refugees coming back. if we have to accept the muslims encamped in bangladesh now, they really need to follow the rules of law in our country. so, the existing laws. existing laws. so, they cannot be citizens. there will be some muslim people that can be citizens by citizenship law, but on the other hand, we are sure there are a lot of illegal muslims from bangladesh. today, in this part of rakhine, you can see rohingyas only

as ghostly figures by the roadside. there are muslim rohingya communities, but they are very tightly segregated. we have just been passing through one now. we've been followed by a police special branch. in fact, for most foreigners visiting here, the muslims might as well be invisible. we did eventually shake off our police escort and found a group of rohingyas working near the road. talking to us was risky for them and we concealed their faces. they described a life of constant restrictions and constant fear. they live far from the bangladesh border. it would be a dangerous journey. and yet, even now, they think they too may eventually have to join the refugee exodus. jonathan head, bbc news, rakhine state, myanmar. president trump has said he wants

the pentagon to organise a military parade. so we have been taking a look at how other countries do it, including here in the uk. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. could more female pilots be about to take to the skies? we'll be looking at how airlines are coping with the global pilot shortage. and before we go, time to tell you that the olympic petition has begun ahead of the opening ceremony. she has begun the mixed doubles curling. the us athletes have also begun to

compete against the russians who are unable to compete under their ru nflat. —— own unable to compete under their runflat. —— own flag. hello there. for many places, the day ahead will bring a slightly different feel to the weather. something just a little bit milder. many starting the day under cold air. but this wedge of mild air in the atlantic beginning to show its hand. this is tied up with a weather system in the atlantic. you can see the cloud here is going to bring some outbreaks of rain as we go on through the day. a split in temperatures in the morning. as much as —5, —6, in the south—east. temperatures generally above freezing for northern ireland and northern scotland. this is sam. the coldest weather in east anglia and the south—east, but the brightest weather. a lot of sunshine to come. the south—west, wales, northern england, thick clouds, outbreaks of mostly light and patchy rain at this stage. a lot of cloud into southern scotland. but for northern ireland, northern scotland, something more bright. sunny spells returning. a rash of showers to the north—west. because of the slightly milder air, most showers falling as rain rather than anything more wintry.

now, as we go on through the day, we take this band of cloud and rain further south and east. do you see the deep blue colours? that indicates the rain will turn more heavy for wales and northern england during the afternoon. clouding over in the south—east after the bright start. remaining chilly here. scotland, northern ireland, sunshine and a few showers. temperatures getting up to 7—8 degrees. thursday night, we push this band of at this stage quite heavy rain eastwards. showers too, wintry showers. as we get into friday, the air will be turning more cold. temperatures dipping away. seven in cardiff. some rain, sleet, and snow perhaps in the south—east for a time. some wintry showers elsewhere. generally speaking, high pressure with us for the very start of the weekend. a cold and frosty start to saturday. another frontal system.

perhaps a spell of snow in the north. then some rain. then the second half of the weekend, you guessed it, back in the cold air. things are very much up and down through the coming days. this is the weekend. often it will be windy. rain at times on saturday. something more bright and cold for most on sunday. there could be double—digit temperatures in places. but with some outbreaks of rain, on sunday, it will feel colder, but it should be brighter. i'm sharanjit leyl with bbc world news. our top story. as north korea prepares for military parade in pyongyang, its leadership says they will not be any meeting with the us during the winter

olympics. offence are already under way in curling. —— the events. the leaders of the republican and democratic parties in the us senate have reached an agreement on a budget deal. if passed by the house, it would increase government spending by billions of dollars. and remember this video on bbc.com? robert kelly was in the middle of a live interview when his children burst into the room. well, professor kelly is in london for the broadcast tv awards, and guess what? he's just won the best tv moment of the year. that's it from me for now. stay with bbc news.