this is newsday. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: american spy agencies tell congress that russia is still meddling in us politics, posing a threat to the mid—term elections. the us ambassador calls for more pressure on the myanmar leadership to acknowledge the suffering of the rohingya muslims. this council must hold the military accountable for their actions and pressure aung san suu kyi to acknowledge these horrific acts are taking place in her country. i'm sharanjit leyl, in london. also in the programme: headwinds at the winter olympics in pyeongchang. some events have been postponed due to high windspeeds. and how long should you wait before getting married 7 we meet one couple in australia who had to wait 44 years to be allowed to tie the knot. live from our studios in singapore and london,

this is bbc world news. it's newsday. glad you could join us. it's 8am in singapore, midnight in london and 7pm —— it's 9am in singapore, 1am in london and 8pm in washington, dc where the heads of us intelligence have warned that russian attempts to meddle in american politics are continuing unabated and pose a threat to mid—term congressional elections in november. testifying to a senate committee, the national intelligence director said russia believes its interference in the 2016 presidential election largely achieved its main aim to weaken faith in american democracy. jane o'brien has more. part of the job of america's intelligence chiefs is to sound the alarm and dan coats rang it loud and clear. the united states is under attack. under attack by entities that

are using cyber to penetrate virtually every major action that takes place in the united states. and while iran, north korea and china were all named, russia was emphasised. we expect russia to continue using propaganda, social media, personas, sympathetic spokesmen and other means to influence to try to build on its wide range of operations and exacerbate social and political fissures in the united states. us intelligence agencies all agree that moscow meddled with the presidential election and will try to mess with november's mid—terms. it is an assessment apparently at odds with the president's view. we can't confront this threat which is a serious one with the whole of government response when the leader of the government continues to deny that it exists.

this was the first major appearance for the newly appointed fbi director christopher wray. his predecessor james comey was fired after coming into conflict with president trump over russia. today, the fbi contradicted the white house over rob porter, a senior aide, who left after allegations of assaulting his two ex—wives. the administration has been vague about what it knew and when, but mr wray gave a clear timeline of information gathered during border security clearance. the fbi submitted a partial report on the investigation in question in march and then we administratively closed the file in january and then earlier this month we received some additional information and passed that on as well. the white house had said the fbi checks were ongoing. it will adjourn until the close of session at 2:30pm. the rest of the hearing took place behind closed doors, but the public statements imply that america's domestic divisions are becoming a threat, even as its foreign enemies circle.

what does the white house make of all of this? i spoke to our correspondent david willis in washington. president trump has attempted to portray the suggestions of russian interference as sour grapes, if you like, on the part of hillary clinton and her campaign, but i have to say that we've had this basically across—the—board agreement on the part of the us spy chiefs, including the heads of the cia and fbi and the national security agency, out of russia attempted to meddle in the forthcoming mid—term elections here. it was said that it believes its efforts in 2016, as far as the presidential election were concerned, were successful and it intends to adopt the same tactics, if you like, which includes cyber attacks and of course the posting of fake news reports on social media and so on. and, david, north korea and china were considered threats too and we know this is an annual meeting of the intelligence chiefs. in the past, they focused

on concerns around islamic state, terrorism. are these concerns now less of a threat to the united states than these other concerns they mentioned? well, there is no doubt that north korea is seen as an existentialist threat, as dan coats, the director of national intelligence, put it. there is a feeling that they have to be, despite all that's going on regarding the olympics and so on, on alert and mindful of the threat that is posed by north korea. mr coates said the goal was to get a peaceful settlement to the situation there, but he said north korea was expected

to continue weapons testing throughout this year, 2018, and he said that washington has repeatedly said that all options are on the table as far as dealing with north korea is concerned, including a military strike. some breaking new from the united states. . . .. —— some breaking new from the united states. multiple people are reported to have been wounded in a shooting in west valley city, outside salt lake city. police officers are securing the scene after the incident. we'll bring you more on that when we get it. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. the american ambassador to the united nations has called on the security council to put pressure on the burmese leader, aung san suu kyi, to acknowledge that horrific acts are taking place against rohingyas in myanmar.

nikki haley said the burmese military must be held accountable and that there must be no more excuses. unfortunately, the security council has so far failed in its responsibility to act in response to the clear threat to international peace and security that has resulted from recent events in northern rakhine state. we can't look the other way in this situation. what happened in burma and is still happening in burma is not ok. this council must hold the military accountable for their actions and pressure aung san suu kyi to acknowledge these horrific acts are taking place in her country. no more excuses. also making news today: a south korean court has sentenced choi soon—sil, a friend and adviser to former president park geun—hye, to 20 years injailfor corruption, influence—peddling and abuse of power. choi was at the heart of a massive

corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of ms park, the country's first female president. a lawyer for choi said she will appeal against the sentence. israeli police say they will recommend to the attorney general that the country's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, should be charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust. they say they have evidence that he gave special treatment to wealthy friends after receiving lavish gifts. mr neta nyahu vigorously denied the allegations. the bbc‘s james reynolds has more. there appear to be similar recommendations from the police. they say that mr netanyahu. .. they recommend he faces charges in both cases, fraud, breach of trust, bribery. the most important thing to say is this. the most important step is yet to come. the files now get handed to israel's attorney general and it is up to the attorney general to decide whether or not to indict or whether or not to do nothing and that decision is expected to take at least several months. the pacific island of tonga is dealing with the consequences of the worst storm to hit

the country in over 60 years. the parliament building is among the structures that have been completely flattened. high winds battered the island overnight into tuesday, lifting roofs of houses and bringing down electricity lines. at its peak, cyclone gita reached 233 km/h. the dutch foreign minister has resigned after admitting he lied about meeting vladimir putin in 2006. halbe zijlstra had said he had heard mr putin outline expansionist ambitions. on monday he admitted the information was second hand, yet his source then later refuted the content. police in portugal have detained a man at lisbon‘s international airport accused of carrying one kilogram of cocaine in fake buttocks. it's reported the man was a brazilian citizen who'd arrived on a flight from belem, in northern brazil. police say the quantity of the drug seized would have been enough

to make 5,000 individual doses. in south africa, the ruling african national congress has asked presidentjacob zuma to resign. the anc says he's agreed to stand down, but only after a transition period of three to six months which the party rejected. mr zuma has come under mounting pressure to leave his post, following a series of corruption scandals. 0ur africa editor fergal keane reports from johannesburg. not quite the night of the long knives, but still the party moving definitively to be rid of a defiant president. late last night the convoy of the anc leader cyril ramaphosa coming to tell his executive that after a short meeting jacob zuma was refusing to resign voluntarily. with the media kept at bay, the party debated what to do next. it's half—past midnight and they're still talking in there,

more than ten hours after they started. there's a sense that the whole future of the anc, and indeed of this country, hinges on what happens now. this afternoon in johannesburg, after a meeting that eventually ran for 13 hours, the anc revealed that its patience was exhausted. in its wisdom, the nec decided as follows — one, to recalljacob zuma. recall, in other words they were ordering jacob zuma to resign. and if he doesn't it's likely they'll force him out through a motion of no confidence in parliament. but it's potentially risky. the president still has many supporters in the party. do you worry that this is going to split the anc, divide the movement irreparably? i don't know whether the anc will split. but we are leaders, we belong to branches and we are appealing

to our structures to understand that the national executive committee has taken decisions. so, as the anc officials leave, they've now thrown down a gauntlet to president jacob zuma. they've given him time, lots of time, they say, to respond to their demand that he step down. it's now up to him. nobody could accuse the anc of rushing to remove jacob zuma. the leadership did nothing while corruption scandals multiplied during nine years of his rule. an indian immigrant family, the guptas, was allowed to purchase vital national enterprises, employing the president's son in what became known as ‘state capture‘. now the opposition believes president zuma no longer cares about dividing his party or country. now he's just defiant. you know, these are the last kicks of a dying horse. but it becomes dangerous.

he doesn't care. he's not even scared of impeachment. so, he is prepared to lose everything. jacob zuma has lived and ruled in the shadow of greatness. however it comes about, he will leave office a humiliated figure. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we'll take you on a whistle—stop tour of the winter olympics venues and we have all the latest on how high winds have disrupted some of the events. also, pleased to meet you —— pleased to meet you. prince harry and meghan markle on the first public engagement in scotland. 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 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: american spy agencies have told congress that russia is still meddling in us politics and posing a threat to the mid—term elections. the us ambassador to the un has called for more pressure on the myanmar leaderhsip to acknowledge the suffering of the rohingya muslims. and a malaysian newspaper has sparked protest and ridicule by publishing a list on how to spot gay people. activists are warning it could put lives at risk in the conservative country. that story is popular on bbc.com across asia. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the philippine star leads with the probe into president duterte‘s bank accounts. the government's top lawyer confirmed that all charges have been dropped. china daily looks at the end of president xi jinping's new year tour.

the chinese president pledged to make poverty alleviation a priority during a four—day visit to sichuan province. and finally, france's le figaro looks at baghdad's appeal for reconstruction investment. iraq says its needs $88 billion to repair damage to cities, towns and infrastructure in the north and west of the country. what stories are sparking discussions online? it's a particularly disturbing story. four men in pakistan have been arrested for stealing spinal fluid from women. the suspects reportedly told the victims that they needed blood samples in order to qualify forfinancial support from the government. police say that the men then attempted to sell the spinal fluid on the black market. it's day five at the winter olympics in pyeongchang and the action began about an hour ago.

medals are up for grabs in six events, but aside from the sport, the weather has also been getting a fair share of attention. strong winds have forced the men's downhill and the women's giant slalom to be rescheduled for thursday. stephen mcdonnel has been taking a look at all the different venues where the action is taking place. well, here i am in the mountains of pyeongchang. in this area, naturally we have the downhill and cross—country skiing. in the next valley along is the luge, and nearby, the ski jump. where are all the other venues? let's have a look. that was a ten—minute drive to get to the main stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies. this facility for 35,000 spectators is going to be too big for a town of size so it's just a temporary 0lympic structure. here we're still in what you might call the mountain precinct

for the games. to get to all the other venues we have to head to the coast. a pretty scenic ao—minute drive takes you through forests off to the east. the road winds down and down, and before you know it you're there. this is what you might call the coastal precinct for the games. in those large domes there's the speed skating, figure skating and the ice hockey. there's also a fair amount of attention around this being the main base for the north korean team. in recent times it's been not unusual for the winter olympics to be over a vast area, but that doesn't mean, though, there isn't a fair amount of spirit generated for this major festival of sport. stephen mcdonell, bbc news, at the pyeongchang 0lympics. stephen has now returned to seoul and he told us how high winds had disrupted some events.

it's funny, people are probably looking at the weather in terms of the temperature in celsius, thinking, "it can't be that cold," but the crucial thing is the wind and you see reporters out there struggling to talk. it's like they've been to the dentist. at one stage i remember i was having to actually lean at a 45—degree angle into the wind to stop being blown over. this is why you mention it is playing havoc with some of the winter sports. of course you think it's the winter olympics, it's cold, durr! but it has been up on that mountain windy to a dangerous level and some athletes have criticised in certain events, in the snowboarding for example, have criticised officials for not postponing it. finally it looks like it might be going to turn around a little bit and even if the wind

eases off a little bit, it will be quite good, but we have had some pretty bad luck in terms of the weather so far for the pyeongchang games. in the first month since australia's new law on same sex marriage was introduced, around 400 couples have married and, today, as it's valentine's day, more weddings are planned. for one couple, the change in the law brought an end to decades of waiting. 0ur correspondent, hywel griffith, reports. coming together in the eyes of the law at last. after four decades, brian and linc say they've always felt like a married couple, of the law has never allowed them that privilege until now. our family and friends have been very good and have essentially accepted as all the way through, but to have a legal and knowing that society also acknowledges our relationship is

special. they became a couple of it after they first met in 1974, when homosexuality was still illegal across australia. it took more than two decades for it to be decriminalised in every state. but the hardest decriminalised in every state. but the ha rd est battle decriminalised in every state. but the hardest battle for bryan and linc was persuading people that again couple could be in a long, lasting, loving relationship. again couple could be in a long, lasting, loving relationshiplj again couple could be in a long, lasting, loving relationship. iwill love you forever. more especially if you keep reminding that magic and healing food that has nourished me over the years. when life is so fragile, what else can you do but to offer love ? fragile, what else can you do but to offer love? their wedding was planned injust offer love? their wedding was planned in just a offer love? their wedding was planned injust a month, once the new same—sex marriage law was introduced they saw no reason to wait. by the legal authority invested in me by the commonwealth of australia, i can declare that after 44 years you are finally

husband and husband! congratulations! it's good and the fa ct congratulations! it's good and the fact that the country has recognised that this happens and is normal and apart from the marriage thing it's recognising and acceptance, which is the biggest thing to me. the country overwhelmingly voted to do it. the ceremony finished with an unofficial blessing. many faith groups still oppose same—sex marriage in australia. churches can under the new law refused to a wedding. in the last month around 400 same—sex couples have married under the new law. both in their 70s, bryan and linc are amongst the oldest, so far at least. 55 years together, you might do this too? maybe. i might think about it. who knows? bryan and linc have hardly rushed into marriage, but it has taken decades for australia to finally catch up

with them. now we can say my husband wherever we go. my husband and i. i will never regret. staying with the wedding themes, because prince harry and meghan markle have made their first officialjoint visit to scotland, as part of a round of engagements in the run—up to their wedding in may. it's the fourth public appearance the couple have made since announcing their intention to marry in november. from edinburgh, our royal correspondent nicholas witchell has sent this report, which contains some flash photography. edinburgh castle and a welcome to scotla nd edinburgh castle and a welcome to scotland on a day when the temperature was barely above zero. a day then for a good, warm overcoat and there was meghan markle wrapped up and there was meghan markle wrapped up in and there was meghan markle wrapped upina and there was meghan markle wrapped up in a very thing. a coat patterned in tartan green and blue. offering a

welcome, the band of the royal marine scotland and the regimental mascot of the world regiment of scotland, a shetland pony with sharp teeth. watch harry's left hand. nearly got him! he moved on, ring finger intact, meghan markle amused. bang went the one o'clock gun and out came the earplugs. as they gazed out came the earplugs. as they gazed out on the city those who came to see them were positive. we got to meet meghan markle and she is absolutely beautiful. i am so excited for them to be year. they are the future of the royal family. this has been another important introduction on the meghan markle familiarisation tour of the uk. the underlying message is how much scotla nd underlying message is how much scotland matters. the union of course is a sensitive issue. one the royals know they must navigate with

care. but that navigation will increasingly be the task of the younger royals like harry and his wife to be. scotland will need to be a regular destination. hgppy happy valentine's day, sharan! you have been watching newsday. stay with us. love at first sight, or love at first swipe? but does online dating really work? we'll be looking at new methods the industry has come up with to find you your true love. and before we go, let's take a look at these pictures. they show the first panda cub ever to be born in france, yuan meng. he's drawing a lot of visitors to the zoo which is a 2—3 hour drive south of paris. yuan meng was very tiny at birth, weighing a mere 142 grams. hello once again, thanks very much

indeed forjoining me. it's time we updated you on the weather prospects for the whole of the british isles and this will take us right through the next few days, on into the weekend. hmm, tuesday, a bit of a mixed bag to say the least, wet in the south, snow further north but once the snow cleared it ended up being a really glorious afternoon and a spectacular one across the isle of lewis. if you thought that's a bit ancient history, that's the band of weather that brought us the rain on tuesday, here's the next great event looming with intent in the western side of the british isles. ahead of it it's quite important to tell you with these clear skies the temperatures will have dipped away. once we start bringing the weather elements together, we've got the cold weather in place, in comes the moisture from the atlantic so no great surprise if i tell you that after a bright enough start for central and eastern parts, in comes this weather front from the atlantic and because we're pushing all that moisture into that cold air, anywhere really

from the north midlands and north of wales northwards, that's where we're going to see significant snowfall, especially but not exclusively on the higher ground. you'll see here, north—west highlands, 7—12 centimetres, even on the southern uplands, getting over beattock summit perhaps on the m74, you could be looking at several centimetres of snow. top end of the pennines as well and even a wee bit further south there's just the chance that as that weather front keeps journeying ever further eastwards and it comes up over salisbury plain, the chilterns, i wouldn't be surprised if you told me you saw something just a wee bit wintry about proceedeings there. i don't think it's going to amount to a whole can of beans in the south but they will be significant depths further north. 5—8 will cover it for many, a wee bit milder out to the west, ten or 11 here perhaps. that weather system eventually pushes through. low pressure still dominating the scene in many parts of the british isles for thursday. quite a few isobars on that chart so the wind will be a noticeable feature of the day on thursday. but having said that, you know what, in many areas it's going to be a decent day. in eastern scotland and much

of england and wales, dry, fine and sunny and temperatures in double figures across the south. there will be more showers in western scotland and northern ireland as well. as we go from thursday pushing towards the end of the week, see this ridge of high pressure just beginning to build in here, trying to dominate the scene, at least across the southern half of the british isles. but for northern ireland, for the north and west of scotland, there's still the chance of some showers but in the south there's dry weather and a bit of warmth. i'm sharanjit leyle. our top story. the united states is 'under attack‘, according to us intelligence agencies. a senate intelligence committee has been told that russia is working to undermine us democracy and there is "no doubt" russia will try to interfere in the mid—terms in november. myanmar‘s denial of ethnic cleansing in rakhine state has been called 'preposterous' by the us ambassador to the united nations. nikki haley accused the burmese government of preventing humanitarian access to rakhine

in order to hide atrocities committed there by the burmese military. and a popular story on bbc.com, a malaysian newspaper has sparked protest and ridicule by publishing a list on how to spot gay people. according to the article, gay men can be identified by their beards, and lesbians by their fondness for holding hands. activists are warning it could put lives at risk. and the top story here in the uk.