welcome to newsday on the bbc. i'm mariko oi, in singapore. the headlines: facebook is facing tough questions as the us and europe probe the link between personal information and political profit. the boss of a british firm accused of misusing the data of over fifty million users is suspended, with immediate effect. i'm sharanjit leyl, in london. also in the programme: a bbc investigation reveals young rohingya girls, who fled the violence in myanmar, are being trafficked into prostitution in bangledesh. and the last male northern white rhino in the world is gone — leaving his daughter and granddaughter as the only ones of their kind. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news — it's newsday. good morning.

it's 8am in singapore, midnight in london and 5pm in california, where executives at facebook are under growing pressure to explain how their company gathers and uses our information online. for political gain have triggered investigations by authorities in the us, the uk and europe. cambridge analytica, a company hired by the trump campaign in 2016. told undercover reporters from britain's channel 4 news how some of the information was used. the man speaking there is chief executive of cambridge analytica, alexander nix, he's since been suspended by the company. and a little earlier facebook has

also released a statement. it said its chief executive mark zuckerberg and chief operating officer, sheryl sandberg, and their teams are working around the clock to get all the facts and take the appropriate action moving forward... the fallout of this story is being felt far and wide, in a moment we'll hear from jon sopel in washington, from amol rajan in san francisco, but first to simon jack who's been to the headquarters of cambridge analytica in london. rather modest offices, have become

an unlikely idea storm. drawn in politicians on both sides of the atlantic. when this story first broke, cambridge analytica said they had done nothing wrong. the executives were talking in hypotheticals. they have since changed their tunes and saying the comments of the boss, who you sort in that footage, did not represent the values of the firm and he was suspended pending the investigation. damian collins, the head of the committee of media and sport wanted to extend an invitation for mark zuckerberg to appear in person to explain how this information got into the wrong hands. the company does not deny it works on the club election. it does the night use of the information in the prosecution of that campaign. on the financial

markets, a lot of people rapidly an friending facebook. 10% of its market value falling. real implications for what is going on in facebook. you are in a position where cambridge analytica are either telling for areas full of hot air to the selling of the truth in which case it could be in a heap of trouble with lawmakers on capitol hill. they claim to have been responsible for the entire digital strategy of donald trump's campaign, of the crooked hillary campaign as well and litter one side whether donald trump will accept that cambridge analytica were responsible for the election victory, some of the claims they make about co—ordinating between the trump campaign and these super packs meant to be entirely independent of the trump campaign, that would breach us electoral law and could cause

problems. mark zuckerberg, he has been called to give evidence here, he has a bunker on his estate in palo alto and i do not think that will protect him from the lawmakers on capital hill. facebook is facing its biggest crisis since the company was founded in 2004. tens of billions wiped from its value, the resignation of the a senior figure. investors getting uppity and talking about rebelling en masse. it has to be said that the company's response to these revelations has made things worse not better. a meeting at it this afternoon, mark zuckerberg was not there, sheryl sandberg, the chief operating officer, was not there. a senior face the executive said they are taking their time to gather all the facts. when revelations first came to light, the company said this was not a data

breach. it could be something much worse. harvesting of personal data of tens of millions of people without them knowing about it. people are waking up to the fact that for all its brilliance and the fa ct that for all its brilliance and the fact it is a free product, it is our itibss fact it is a free product, it is our mass surveillance tool which is now selling politics as well and it has implications for western democracies. facebook and not got their head around it yet. let's take a look at some of the day's other news: president trump has called president putin to congratulate him on securing another six—year term in office. he said he would probably meet mr putin in the not too distant future. but congress has criticised mr trump for failing to confront the russian leader over claims that moscow has undermined democracy around the world, including meddling in the us elections. the white house spokesperson says that this isn't the focus of their efforts. putin has been elected in their country

and that's not something we can dictate to them how they operate. we can only focus on the freeness and the fairness of our elections and that's something that we 100 percent fully support and something that we are going to continue to protect to make sure bad actors don't have the opportunity to impact them in any way. also making news today: president trump has lost a bid to dismiss a defamation lawsuit brought by an ex—playboy model and ‘apprentice‘ contestant summer zervos. she says mr trump groped her after she appeared on his former reality tv show. rejecting mr trump ‘s claim that he was immune from being sued, a judge said he was not to dodge the law just because he was in the white house. 23 russian diplomats and their families have left the uk today. they've been expelled after the salisbury poison attack. the british prime minister has said

russia orchestrated the poisoning of the double agent sergei skripal and his daughter. russia denies any involvement. the white house has promised that those responsible for five parcel bombs in texas will be caught. this came as the police investigates whether a parcel bomb that exploded at a fedex depot in san antonio in texas earlier is connected to a suspected serial bomber. four bombs have been planted over recent weeks, killing two people and injuring several others. the police gave this update earlier. it is very early in the investigation, obviously, but we are confident that neither this facility not any other location in this area was a target. with that said, we need to reiterate the message we have heard so often recently that, if you have a package that was not expect that, if you are suspicious of the return address, if you come across any suspicious object, do not touch it, do not move it by contact

9/11. look at these pictures: a water main break in university city, near san diego, created a geyser of water that shot up stories above a california highway. the break shut down the road for roughly 30 minutes while crews worked to shut off the water. according to local media, construction crews hit a blow—off valve, causing the break. china's annual parliamentary session has closed with president xi jinping — now cleared to rule indefinitely — outlining a nationalist vision of his country as a rising global power. he spoke of the "china solution" to world problems and delivered a stern warning over his resolve to protect "every inch" of chinese territory. our china correspondent john sudworth, who has been covering the parliament since it opened two weeks ago, assesses its implications. while the world has been watching

china's parliament, chinese people have been in cinemas watching this... amazing china, the country ‘s highest earning documentary ever and an eye—popping propaganda fest. translation: how was the film at us. fantastic, it spoke from the heart. but then, did you have to come? translation: let's just say it was organised, this woman says. revealing that her state backed company block booked the cinema. but the government is corralling of people into nationalist movie now is no coincidence. this two—week parliamentary session has been all

about china's sense of its national historic destiny and the apparent belief that only one man can guide it. sworn in for a second term, but in theory able to rule the life. i am really concerned about... a former editor of the south china morning post is one of those prepared to accept that president xi jinping needs to be given a little longer. i think there is a strong compelling argument here that, because of what he has done over the past five years, that is why he has received so much support within the leadership and outside the party, the him to get a stronger mandate. of course, the row concerns —— there are. but i think the chinese government has done a pretty good

job of ensuring they are not shown in public. that is an understatement. the parliament has been marked by barely a murmur of dissent and dissent of any public discussion. they would have been infused by president xi jinping vision of a nation reclaiming its place in the global stage but what happened here will not only have consequences the chinese people but for all of us. a rising superpower has placed fate totally, indefinitely, in that man's hands. the fortunes of the chinese nation and its ruler once again intimately intertwined. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: on the trail of the traffickers — a bbc investigation reveals that rohingya girls are being forced into prostitution. also on the programme: ringo starr rocks up

at buckingham palace —— as the former beatles drummer receives a knighthood. today, we have closed the book on apartheid and that chapter. more than 3,000 subway passengers were affected. nausea, bleeding, headaches and a dimming of vision, all of this caused by an apparently organised attack. the trophy itself was on the pedestal in the middle of the cabinet here. now, this was an international trophy and we understand now that the search for it has become an international search. above all, this was a triumph for the christian democrats

of the west, offering reunification as quickly as possible, and that's what the voters wanted. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm marika oi in singapore. i'm sharanjit leyl in london. thanks for staying with us. our top stories: facebook says the company is "outraged" following the unauthorised use of personal data from 50 million users. the chief executive of the company accused of misusing the data to influence the us presidential election has been suspended. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the south china morning post is leading on a warning from the country's president. it says xi jinping has vowed to crush any attempt to divide what he describes as the motherland.

it's after the us signed the taiwan travel act into law, allowing american officials to visit the island. the gulf news is covering a saudi diplomatic visit to the us. the report details a meeting between crown prince muhammad bin salman and us president donald trump, with a focus on trade and investment opportunities. and finally the straits times is looking at problems with a cycle sharing scheme. operators are being made to apply for licences after thousands of bikes were left indiscriminately parked around the city. now, sharanjit, what stories are sparking discussions on line? well, the french may be known for their culinary pride but it seems tastes are changing. for the first time in history, french people have bought more american—style hamburgers than their own classic jambon—beurre sandwich. a new study says 1.46 billion burgers were sold last year,

compared with 1.22 billion of the traditional baguettes filled with sliced ham. the news has certainly got people talking. a bbc investigation has revealed that rohingya girls as young as 13 who fled myanmar in the past six months are being trafficked into prostitution in bangladesh. the undercover team filmed traffickers openly offering the girls for sex in cox's bazar, the town nearest to the refugee camps, where hundreds of thousands of rohingya muslims now live. the bbc‘s mishal husain has the story. a small city on the bay of bengal, where the main business was tourism, is now the hub for aid agencies working in the nearby refugee camps. but alongside the shop fronts, the beachside bars, and the hotels of cox's bazar, there's an open secret.

after hearing repeated stories about children trafficked into prostitution, we went in search of the evidence. one 14—year—old rohingya girl we met in the camps, and whose identity we've protected, told me what happened to her as she crossed from myanmar into bangladesh. translation: women came with a van. they asked me if i'd go with them. not long after that, in a building in cox's bazar, they brought two boys to me. they showed me a knife and punched me in my tummy and beat me because i wasn't cooperating. then the boys raped me. i wasn't willing to have sex, but they kept going. we heard other accounts from girls of a similar age. a 13—year—old told me she was lured out of the camp by a woman

from within the rohingya community offering her work. with the desperate conditions the refugees are living in, her family agreed to let her go. translation: she came to my home. we know her. she said, "you're not being fed properly, come with me to cox's bazar, i will give you a job." when we got there, she put me in a hotel in the morning. by the afternoon, a boy was put in my room. he beat me and raped me. i asked the woman, "why i should do this?" she told me, "if you don't do this, i will kill you." after only 48 hours on the ground, our team had identified a number of people offering children for sex. this was one of them, not only boasting about his own collection of women and children, but of a network of traffickers, all of whom had more than ten girls under their control.

we had to be careful not to create a demand, and asked for girls who were immediately available. we were offered these three, and told they were all rohingyas, aged between 13 and 17. we went to the police and told them what we had found. they agreed to conduct an operation that same evening. our undercover investigator posed as a client who wanted to have sex with children and arranged with the trafficker for the delivery of two young girls to a hotel. to bring the girls down here... as we waited, the trafficker sent a scout. eight o'clock, red hoodie. he asked our investigator to go with him, but we needed the trafficker to come to us. he's away with the girls. he appeared to change his mind.

we are go, we are go. but when the girls arrived, it was a driver who was with them and who collected the money. how it's going? 14,15,16 and two for you. ask him, if tonight's good, can they get more? we handed over around £140. as soon as the deal was done, the police moved in. come on, girls. hey, come here. the girls were two of those we'd seen in the photograph. as they were taken aside and into safety, they told us they were 15 and 21 and that their families depended on the money they made from sex work. what the two girls told me here tonight reveals so much about how they and others like them get trapped in the sex industry in cox's bazar. they've never been to school and have no idea how they would support themselves

without this work. and with the arrival of so many refugees in the nearby camps, there are even more vulnerable young people for the traffickers to prey upon. childcare professionals and trafficking experts helped us to arrange care for the girls afterwards. the younger one went into the care of social services, but the 21—year—old refused. we handed over all the information we had to the police. but the trafficker is still at large, part of an established network that puts children into sex work here and, as our investigation found, also sends them further afield, to india and nepal. now the presence of a large refugee population, including many unaccompanied children, is providing easy pickings for the traffickers and another danger for the rohingya people. mishal husain, bbc news, bangladesh. the northern white rhino

is a species on the brink of extinction following the death of a 45—year—old male in kenya the last of his kind in the world. his name was sudan, and he was put down on monday after his health problems worsened significantly. his daughter and grand—daughter are the only female northern white rhinos left, as our correspondent, alistair leithead, reports from kenya. and then there were two, the last remaining northern white rhinos on earth, now that the last male, sudan, has died of old age. a subspecies of rhino ever closer to extinction. one is najin, 27—years—old, sudan's daughter. the other is fatu, his teenage granddaughter. the last of what was once a great species that roamed central africa. this was sudan, and for the last few years scientists and conservationists have been trying to get him to mate. they even put the 45—year—old

on tinder as part of a publicity campaign. there was no other animal quite like him. it highlights first and foremost, you know, the fact that human greed and sometimes human activities that are not controlled can drive species to extinction. the last wild northern white rhinos were seen here in garamba national park, in the northern democratic republic of congo, but that was many years ago. they became extinct in the wild in 2008. well, fatu and najin are now the last two remaining northern white rhinos, and obviously they're both females. they're here under armed guard 24 hours a day, such is the continuing threat to these animals from poachers. they're now incredibly rare. there are only 30,000 rhinos left on the planet and sudan was unusual for his kind, in that he died of old age. now it's up to the scientists and a never before tried fertility

treatment in a last gasp effort to save these animals from extinction. alastair leithead, bbc news, in northern kenya. the beatles legend, ringo star, has been knighted at buckingham palace for his services to music. the drummer's knighthood follows the mbe awarded to each band member in 1965. speaking after the ceremony, starr told colin paterson, he was delighted to receive the new honour. it means a lot, actually. it means recognition for things we have done. i was pleased to accept this award. where does it rank among your achievements? the first number one? it's way up there. i will now close the box. this is not the first time

you have been honoured at buckingham palace. what's it like now? it was a long time ago is. four lads straight out of liverpool. it was an honour then and an honour now. i was a bit shaky on my own. apparently after being honoured last time, you went and snuck off for a cigarette. what are your plans next? we'll have to wait and see. you have been watching newsday. and before we go, let's take a look at these pictures. now, we've all had problems with parking, but take a look at this. and we look at how brainwave technology is being used to improve the way we work. goodbye. hello again. tuesday brought us

beautiful and sunny weather across northern ireland and scotland. the best of the sunshine, how beautiful it was to the day during the scottish islands with the sun setting on the west. a change for wednesday. thick cloud in the north—west of the country. scotland and northern ireland, a cloudy start to the day. rain on the charts. for some, a damp start. further south, england and wales, clear skies overnight. for those rising early, something like this to be widespread frost, even in towns and cities. the countryside, a cold start to the day. temperatures down as low as minus six in wales. cold, but beautiful sunny skies in england and wales for most of the morning. the

afternoon, cloud thickening from the north and west. sunshine hazy elsewhere. outbreaks of rain in western scotland fairly quickly in the day. rain not lasting long in northern ireland. eastern scotland will see occasional bright spells through the afternoon that the temperatures were lift into double figures, the warmest spot in the uk. crucially, we will lose the wind. the weather picture for thursday. a decent start to the day for many of us. decent start to the day for many of us. bright and sunny spells. weather coming in from the atlantic ringing heavy rain the western areas later in the afternoon. —— bringing. south—west england and wales, gales around the coast later in the day. the end of the week, cloud and rain pushing across the uk. another area of low pressure set to swing in off

the atlantic and moving to the south—west of the uk. some uncertainty about how far north the band of rain gets. low pressure could develop. if that happens, the rain could not get that far north. that is a possibility for friday. 9— 11 for most of us. the position of the rain is important for the weather we will have in scotland and northern ireland on saturday. at the moment, the forecast is rain. but if the low pressure develops, it could be clear and a decent day on saturday with bright or sunny spells. a little bit of uncertainty at the moment, as i said, but we will keep you posted. i'm sharanjit leyl with bbc world news. our top story: the british—based company accused of misusing facebook information for political gain, has suspended its chief executive, alexander nix. cambridge analytica has been accused of harvesting the personal data of from fifty million users without their consent. the us, british and european parliaments have all

asked for explanations. russian diplomats have left the uk in an expulsion following the salisbury spy attack. moscow has denied all involvement, and is expelling british diplomats in response. and this video is trending on bbc.com... for the first time in history french people have bought more american—style hamburgers than their own classic jambon—beurre sandwich. almost one and a half billion burgers were sold last year. that's certainly got people talking. that's all from me now. now on bbc news it's time for hardtalk.