i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: no limits for president xi — is he voting himself a lifetime in power? difficult times for democrats in hong kong. they win two seats in the by—election — but lose their veto power in the assembly. i'm sharanjit leyl in london. also in the programme: a test of colombia's historic peace deal — former guerrillas face a tough contest in national parliamentary elections. raising their game — meet the robots that get better at football every time they play. good morning.

it is 9:00am in singapore, 1am in london, and 9:00am in beijing, where in an historic move, the national people's congress of china has abolished presidential term limits. the vote allows the current president, xijinping, to stay in office beyond the end of his second term in 2023. as expected, the amendment was passed overwhelmingly. so what does this all mean? critics argue the move gives one person too much power. we will be getting reaction to the news, and analysis, later on newsday. but first, let's start with this report from john sudworth, our correspondent in beijing. china's parliament was preparing to hand unlimited power to its president, and there could be no doubting the outcome. should xijinping be president for life? "yes," they answer.

and then she adds. please don't say that it is president for life. it is just that there is not a limit for the number of terms. but, whatever you call it, the change means mr xi can rule china for as long as he wants. he was the first to cast his ballot, the applause further proof of the inevitability of the result. out of almost 3,000 delegates, only two voted against. " passed , " the announcer says, and this man's hold on power now becomes both complete and indefinite. the cost of opposition to mr xi's rule can be high. i am shown papers left behind by xu yan's husband, a lawyer, who recently wrote an open letter calling for democratic elections.

he is now being detained for subversion. translation: he did everything within the boundaries of the law, yet it's not allowed here. now, many people are afraid of speaking up. what has been the effect on you and your 13—year—old son? my son loves his father. this situation is a huge blow for him. all public discussion of the constitutional change is being tightly controlled and censored. the two—term limit solved a problem facing all undemocratic authoritarian states. it helped china ensure orderly and regular leadership successions. what has happened here today, then, is highly significant. a choreographed, compliant, rubber—stamped parliament has removed the last limitation on xijinping's power.

as the delegates left, they may have glanced at this, chairman mao's portrait, a stark reminder of the risks of lifetime rule. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. we'rejoined now from belgrade in montana by max baucus, who was the us ambassador to beijing until last year. thank you so muchjoining us. you have met president xi jinping several times and other congress has lifted the term limits. why the think president xi was chosen for this particularjob and to extend his term beyond 2023?|j this particularjob and to extend his term beyond 2023? i think this is basically a manifestation of the difference between china as its developing now and the western

world. i remember talking to president xi and he was explaining the long history in china is the rule of emperors. the role of the emperor is to take care of the people and it's clear to me that he sees himself is not an emperor, but a least a very strong leader, may be close to an emperor, to take care of the people. if you can contrast that with the united states, the uk and other western countries where there is the rule of law, not the rule of man, that governance. this is an extent of what china is an president xijinping is taking charge. extent of what china is an president xi jinping is taking charge. now that president xi jinping will be president for life, how well this impact the political landscape here in asia among the asian powers such asjapan, in asia among the asian powers such as japan, south korea and india? in asia among the asian powers such asjapan, south korea and india?” think it gives china a bit more

confidence. china is already strong but now that president xi is no limit on the number of terms he can serve, there is a sense in china that china can go forward even more strongly. the ways in which it wants to project power. this isjust an extension. the question is, what are the internal views of this shift? there are some in the civil society of china who are upset with this but i've talked to a good number of people in china who are not upset with this. they kind of like it. it's an opportunity for china to be stronger and an opportunity for their businesses to proceed in a stronger way. what about relations with united states? it's kind of interesting. president xi has gone a

bit more solo and president trump has gone a bit more solo but there isa has gone a bit more solo but there is a big difference between the two of them. president xi is very experienced, a deep reservoir of expertise behind him. president trump doesn't have a lot of expertise, he is inexperienced. you'll find this development in china really will more starkly set up china really will more starkly set up some of the differences between oui’ up some of the differences between our two countries and the tension that might exist between our two countries but the real question is how it is the united states in the west handle all this? would got to be very thoughtful, recognise china for what it is but also stand up to western values and deal with china ina way western values and deal with china in a way that is respectful for both the united states and china. our two countries are joined together at the hip economically. we can't let china ta ke hip economically. we can't let china take advantage of us but we have to

keep working with china in a very solid and constructive way. thank you very much of your insight. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. polls have closed in congressional elections in colombia, seen as a test of a peace deal between the government and farc rebels. presidentjuan manuel santos said the participation of candidates from the former rebel group marked a historic moment for colombian democracy. let's now cross live to bogota, where our correspondent katy watson is following the election. katy, polling day is said to have been one of the most peaceful in years? about two thirds of the votes had been counted and in the lower house of congress and the senate, the farc have done pretty badly, not even

0.5% of the total votes and this was something expected. it's an historic moment for the farc to be playing a pa rt moment for the farc to be playing a part in politics but they are in insignificant party and many don't wa nt to insignificant party and many don't want to vote for the former dual leaders. this is seen as too soon. the right—wing parties have done very well. this was seen as a test of the government ofjuan manuel sa ntos after of the government ofjuan manuel santos after the peace deal and right—wing parties felt strongly that a peace deal was too lenient towards the former fighters and we have seen that in the results. there is historical significance in these results. what can we expect from the political scenario now after the elections? there are significant because the peace deal in 2016 and did more than 50 years of conflict. they are moving from violence to

votes a nd they are moving from violence to votes and keeping up the same fight. they say they want to keep up with social justice, they want they say they want to keep up with socialjustice, they want better access to. education. that is where they want to go but at the end of they want to go but at the end of the day, they are still very unpopular. the scenario will be interesting in the next few months. got the presidential elections coming up and the right is expected to have a strong showing. that is expected to show. we will be watching those results and you will be all through the day. also making news today: us officials have defended president trump's decision to meet the north korean leader, saying that he appreciated the risks involved. the cia director, mike pompeo, said the president had agreed to the summit with kim jong—un to try to solve a crisis, not as a piece of theatre. the venue for this meeting is still to be determined.

hong kong's pro—democracy camp has failed to win enough seats to regain some veto power in the city's 70—seat legislature. the democrats won only two of four seats in the by—election, which leaves the opposition one seat short from having the power to block most bills in the legislative chamber. the by—election was triggered because six pro—democracy lawmakers were ousted from public office over invalid oaths of office. a helicopter has crashed in new york's east river, killing two people and leaving one survivor. 0fficials people and leaving one survivor. officials said the helicopter went down near the northern end of roosevelt island at about 7pm local time, and reported to be upside down in the water. emergency services have sent divers to the scene. melanoma is the fourth—most—common form of cancer in australia, and kills five people a day. now, australian medical researchers have launched a 90—second online test capable of predicting an individual‘s risk of developing a fatal form of the disease.

the test has been developed from the world's largest study of skin cancer, and is reported to be highly accurate. the syrian government assault on the rebel—held enclave of eastern ghouta is continuing, with air strikes and fierce fighting on the ground. conditions for civilians are dire, with the bodies of the dead left to rot under the rubble. more than 1,000 people have been killed since the offensive began three weeks ago. football freestylerjohn farnworth, from lancashire, is aiming to set a new record by doing "keepy—uppies" on the way up mount everest. he is hoping to juggle a football continuously for two weeks while trekking to everest base camp, at an altitude of 5,380 metres. mr farnworth said he hopes to complete the 62km keepy—uppy charity challenge in march next year. the myanmar military are building on razed rohingya villages

in rakhine state, according to a new report from amnesty international. a military land grab is how amnesty describes the new structures, which include fences, roads and military bases, being built where villages stood. for example, take a look at these satellite images from rakhine state. this photo taken in september 2017 shows three burned villages, surrounded by fields for agriculture. compare this with this image taken in february, showing new structures built on the fields next to where the villages stood, and two new helipads. matthew wells is a senior crisis advisor at amnesty international, who spent january and february this year at the refugee camps in bangladesh, gathering the testimony and materials upon which amnesty is basing its report. hejoins me now from washington.

just over six months ago, the myanmar military unleashed its campaign of ethnic cleansing against the rohingya population in northern rakhine state, driving more than 600,000 men, women and children across the border into bangladesh. what a new report today shows is that, as the rohingya shelter in refugee camps there in bangladesh, the myanmar authorities are in effect remaking rakhine state. that areas that used to be rohingya homes, markets and mosques have been bulldozed. farmland has been cleared away. and, in their place, the myanmar authorities have built new infrastructure, including security force spaces, roads, at times villages for non—rohingya ethnic groups. and all of this shows that, as the authorities say that they are ready to start returning rohingya, that in fact every day they are making that far more difficult, by remaking rakhine state. that's right, and we saw this in the satellite imagery.

but, of course, the myanmar government are going to argue that they are actually rebuilding to accommodate the returning community, and of course, as you mentioned, it has been brokered in a recent deal between the two governments. right, but what we see... take, for example, there is a village in one township — and our evidence comes not just from testimonies, but what we see on satellite imagery, from photos and videos that have been taken by people still in northern rakhine state. and all that together shows that in this particular village the myanmar military, the security forces, are building an enormous new base that has in effect driven off many of the rohingya people in that village. they had stayed during the worst period of violence, they stayed as surrounding villages were burnt. but what happened then is the military put flags down marking off an enormous amount of space that used to be farmland for this village.

they evicted people from a particular part of this village, and that has led to hundreds from the village going to bangladesh in the last couple of months. as the government says, it is preparing for returns, in fact its action show something very different — that it is remaking rakhine state, including new security bases, which makes any form of safe and voluntary return incredibly difficult. you are watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we meet the world's first openly gay prince in a country where homosexuality is still illegal. also on the programme: the football—playing robots able to learn from their mistakes and improve their game every time they play. the numbers of dead and wounded defied belief. this, the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 2a hours then, the soviet union lost

an elderly sick leader and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years his junior. we heard these gunshots in the gym. then he came out through a fire exit and started firing at our huts. god, we were all petrified. james earl ray, aged 41, sentenced to 99 years and due for parole when he's 90, travelled from memphis jail to nashville state prison in an 8—car convoy. paul, what's it feel like to be married at last? it feels fine, thank you. what are you going to do now? is it going to change your life much, do you think? i don't know really. i've never been married before. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm in singapore. i'm in london. our top stories:

china's parliament has removed the limits on presidential terms. it means the current leader, xijinping, could rule for life. poor by—election results in hong kong mean the pro—democracy camp has failed to regain its veto power in the territory's legislative council. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the japan times reflects on the moment seven years ago when an earthquake and tsunami left around 18,000 people dead or missing. it says that a moment of silence was held at 2.16 pm on sunday to remember those who lost their lives. thousands of people from the disaster—hit areas are still waiting to return to their home towns, it reports. and as we've been reporting, the china daily‘s main headline is that china's top legislature has adopted a landmark amendment to the country's constitution. it allows president xi jinping to effectively remain as president for life. the paper says it's the first amendment to china's constitution in 1a years and won the almost unanimous support of lawmakers. and the straits times also features the story with this photograph

of the chinese president casting his vote on the proposal that included the amendment to abolish the two—term limit to his the presidency. now, sharanjit, what stories are sparking discussions on line? 0ne one of my favourite films. yes, let's looks at what is trending right now. as we've been reporting, marvel‘s superhero film black panther has taken more than a billion us dollars at cinemas worldwide. the film has been widely praised as game—changing by many, including the likes of michelle 0bama, for having a largely black cast and a black director,

ryan coogler. that story is popular on bbc.com. the first openly gay member of india's royalty is opening up his royal property to the lgbt community. gays in india are notjust discriminated against, homosexuality is also a criminal offence. a bbc team met the prince in his hometown of rajpipla. it was a royal secret that i'm gay. the first reaction when i came out to the media, or to the world, was my effigies were burned by people of rajpipla who respected me as a royal and who looked upon me or treated me as their icon. i am the crown prince of rajpipla which was a princely state in the state of gujarat and i also happen to be the world's first openly gay prince. my decision to convert my royal

establishment into an lgbtq community centre came from my own life experience when i was disowned from the royal family and the ancestral property after i came out openly as gay to the world. this is precisely what happens to any other lgbtq is on in india. so with the aim of providing social empowerment and financial empowerment to the community,

i came up with this idea. accept us the way we are, we are also human beings like any one of you are. if you give us a little bit of love, we will give you a lot of love. researchers in texas are trying to develop robots with a mind of their own. they are developing systems that can learn for themselves and so able to operate in the home, the workplace, even the sports field. this report from our science correspondent, pallab ghosh. meet the soccer playing robots of the university of the excess. they are not being operated by remote control.

instead they're making fast moving decisions as a team on their own. that's because they've been programmed with artificial intelligence. they're able to learn from their mistakes and improve their game each time they play. they are honing their skills for the robot world cup, this one from two years ago in leipzig. football is far harder for computers than chess or other boardgames. rather than turn—taking, everybody‘s moving at the same time. if you take too long to think about what you're going to do when you're going to pass the ball the opponents can come and take the ball away from you. it's also continuous, there's not discreet places people can be, but always moving through air, space, continuous space, so there's really many challenges in contrast to some