i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. the headlines: k—pop diplomacy. north korea's leader kim jong—un attends a concert by south korean pop stars — another sign of the countries' improving relations. people return to the philippine city of marawi, a year after much of it was destroyed in battles between the army and islamic state—allied fighters. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme. japan could be preparing to execute the cult members responsible for the deadly 1995 nerve gas attack on the tokyo subway. falling back to earth. china's defunct space station is expected to reenter the atmosphere in the next few hours. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday.

good morning. it's 7am in singapore, midnight in london and 7.30am in pyongyang, where north korea's leader, kim jong—un, has attended a ground—breaking pop concert, featuring south korean stars. the event is the latest in a series of conciliatory gestures, that appear to mark a thaw in relations between the two sides. now, the leaders of the two koreas are due to hold a summit on the border later this month. this report by james waterhouse contains some flashing images. the sight of kim jong—un waving to enthusiastic applause might not be anything new, but south korean reports say he's now the first north korean leader to go to a performance from a group by the south. nearly 200 singers and dancers and technicians are in the capital for two concerts.

south korean ministers say he showed much interest in the show and asked about the songs and lyrics. the spectators were treated to performances by k—pop stars. including the girl group, red velvet, who made their intentions clear before leaving south korea. translation: it is a great honour to perform with veteran singers, as we are the youngest singers we will do our best to deliver bright energy to the north korean people. it is hoped that energy will serve as a peace gesture ahead of a meeting between the leaders of north and south korea. the south's taekwondo athletes also performed for an audience

in pyongyang, ahead of a joint display on monday. beyond the concerts, south korea and the us have begun theirjoint military exercises, but in a slimmed down form. 300,000 troops will take part but the drill will be a month shorter and won't involve any nuclear submarines. historially, the drills have always angered pyongyang. and he it's keeping quiet this time round. kim jong—un met the chinese president xi jinping last week and he has also offered to have a face to face meeting with donald trump. no date yet, but it is expected before the end of may. as a rapproachment with the south gathers pace, is pyongyang being genuine orjust playing a game? evans revere is a former principal deputy assistant secretary of state in the us government. to the torah and, there are some

interesting tactical moves. and certainly for the north koreans, one of the key targets is the legitimisation of north korea in the international community and behind thatis international community and behind that is a desire to gain except in the north korea as the fact of nuclear weapons states, and i think the north koreans are willing to invest a bit in their relationship with the south, as well as their relationship with the united states, andi relationship with the united states, and i think that is what we see playing out here. but if the rest of the community wants to see denuclearisation playing out in the south, can this even take place given the north's insistence on having nuclear weapons? no, the

north is insisting on having those weapons and as we will probably soon discover if the summit with the south, and the north us summit takes place, there will be a firm determination to keep its nuclear status, even if it is willing to free as part of its production programme or parts of its testing programme, and there is the rub. these talks are going to be extremely complicated and part of the north korean gameplan is to try to put in place a very long and perhaps tortured negotiation, that will allow it to buy time. that is the approach that the north took in the approach that the north took in the 90s and the 2000s, and i believe thatis the 90s and the 2000s, and i believe that is the approach that the north koreans will be taking even when they meet with resident trump. —— president trump. we'll get more on this later on newsday. first, let's take a look at some of the day's other news. myanmar‘s de facto leader aung san suu kyi has told her country it must listen

to the international community if it wants to be accepted as a responsible nation. in an address marking two years in government, ms suu kyi spoke of humanitarian problems in rakhine state. but the nobel peace prize winner again omitted any mention of the military campaign that has forced out 700,000 rohingya muslims. acknowledging that it is important to be able to stand among the world's community and also in line with our country, we need to respect the vision and the intention of the international community, not only rakhine, which the international community is developing on right now. let's try hard with the strength of unity. aung san suu kyi there. also making news today: islamist militants have launched a gun and bomb attack on an african union base in somalia. al shabaab fighters detonated two car bombs outside the base in the town,

south—west of mogadishu. it's unclear exactly how many people died. both sides say they killed dozens. a kuwaiti court has reportedly sentenced a married couple to death for killing a filipina maid. joanna demafelis‘ body was found in an abandoned apartment more than a year after her death. a lebanese man and his syrian wife were convicted in absentia of the killing. at least 20 people have been killed in clashes between government forces and militants in indian—administered kashmir. at least three indian soldiers are among the dead. more than 70 people were wounded. 0fficials there say that it is the worst loss of life in a single day in recent years. president trump has tweeted that there won't be a deal with democrats to legalise the status of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the united states as children. he said that the programme, which is known as daca, is being misused by a growing number of illegal migrants and also accused

mexico for being lax about border security. now, after fleeing for their lives almost a year ago, thousands of residents of the besieged philppine city of marawi have returned home for the first time. parts of the southern city were destroyed in five months of fighting between government troops and jihadists loyal to the so—called islamic state. president duterte declared victory in october, but the threat of unexploded bombs remains. rylee carlson reports. after fleeing for their lives nearly a year ago, residents of marawi are now clogging the streets, trying to make their way back in. some 7,000 people were told they could return on sunday — back to homes that were abandoned amid fierce fighting with militants loyal to the so—called islamic state. the destruction here looks like images out of iraq and syria. this is where those jihadis were trying to set up an is base

in south east asia. a reminder of why this woman was forced to flee is spray—painted across the wall of what was her bridal shop. translation: i wept with pain, anger and frustration, because both my house and boutique — which i worked hard to pay for in saudi arabia for 16 years — are now destroyed. there are stories like these all over marawi, those who desperately wanted to come back have found there is not much left. we have no more residence to live. translation: i tired and failed to come back but now our home is gone. it's so painful.

this is our house. i cannot explain. translation: we worked hard for this house, we racked up debts paying for this house. we have been paying off the debts, we have not even finished paying them. president roderigo duterte declared victory here in marawi back in october, after a destructive five—month battle. but even now, residents who come back are doing so at great risk. explosive disposal teams working in the area say they can only be 80 to 90% sure that the area is clear. translation: the reason is because the other bombs are buried into the ground. the others have been embedded in the buildings and the structures have already collapsed. with great caution over the course of the next month, even more people will be going back, returning to marawi in groups for up to three days each. but it's not a homecoming. instead, it's a salvage mission, and there's much work to be done before the rebuilding starts. an out—of control chinese space station is hurtling towards earth and it's set to make

impact in the next few hours. china lost control of the nine tonne spacecraft, called tiangong—i, after it was decommissioned in 2013. but luckily, most of the spacecraft is expected to burn up in the atmosphere. we can speak to an expert on space debris, ted muelhaupt of the aerospace corporation. it is so unlikely that anyone will be affected by tiangong—i as it reaches the earth finally, why are we concerned about this? well, it is unusual in that it is a manned object and so because it featured in major movie, we thought they would be interest. it is going to put down a fairly substantial amount of debris in terms of mass, it is not unusual in that respect that it is big enough that we do want to pay attention. we would like to be able

to warn people if it were coming down on their heads, but it is not likely. at this point, we are looking at it coming down in the middle of the pacific, off the coast. if we are wrong by a little bit, if the track takes it over desert or water, or pretty uninhabited areas. it is nine times. how much of it will actually go through the atmosphere and how much will just disintegrate as through the atmosphere and how much willjust disintegrate as it comes to the atmosphere? well, it was not designed for re—entry and so without having the specifics of how it is construct, it is difficult to estimate are typically, you will see somewhere between ten and as much as 40%, somewhere between ten and as much as a0%, so could be as much as three times that divides. in what form, without having the structural details, i don't really want to speculate. but what we often see it with objects of this size is

something in the order of two or three times. now, you are talking about the unlikely nurse of it reaching a populated area, so it is unlikely to hurt anyone, hopefully. but when it comes to looking at what then reaches the earth, how important is it to get hold of that? is even possible to get of that once we finally know where it lands? in terms of the objects that survive, some of them will be substantial size, depending, it in other spacecraft re—entries, some of them have contained hazardous materials in the past. we do not think that is likely with this particular one, but generally when debris falls, it is pretty benign stuff that survives, it is just that you do not know that in advance. this will land at most probably in the ocean and i do not think anyone is going to bother to look forward. i really? and so in

terms of tracking and, of course it is difficult to know exactly where it is going to land that are people, will they be able to follow what? how does that work with something like this? well, the us air force maintains what is known as a space surveillance network, that consist of radars and telescopes that are scattered around the world and we use observations from those, there is an organisation that does this, and we are using some of their dater and we are using some of their dater and we are using some of their dater and we make our own independent predictions based on it. most of the community does something very similar, they use the best after they have got, they use their own models and make their own predictions. —— data. it really depends on the final orbits as to when you are going to get a good track... it is very difficult, ted, iamso track... it is very difficult, ted, i am so sorry to interrupt will be running short of time. we'lljust

have to wait and watch, thank you. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: after 23 years behind bars for a deadly nerve gas attack, could members of a japanese cult now be executed? the accident that happened here was of the sort that can, at worse, produce a meltdown. in this case, the precautions worked, but they didn't work quite well enough to prevent some old fears about the safety features of these stations from resurfacing. the republic of ireland has become the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace. from today, anyone lighting up in offices, businesses, pubs or restaurants will face a heavy fine. the president was on his way out of the washington hilton hotel where he had been addressing a trade union conference. the small crowd outside included his assailant.

it has become a symbol of paris. 100 years ago, many parisians wished it had never been built. the eiffel tower's birthday is being marked by a re—enactment of the first ascent by gustave eiffel. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: more signs of a diplomatic thaw. north korea's leader has attends a pop concert in pyongyang, featuring some of south korea's brightest stars. thousands of residents have been allowed back in to the philippine city of marawi, nearly a year after it became a battleground for the army and jihadists. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the new york times takes its lead from the latest developments in syria, where government forces continue to push out rebel fighters

from enclaves near the capital, damascus. the paper says a motley mix of fleeing civilians, defeated rebels and hard—line jihadists are being transported to towns in the north of the country. meanwhile, the japan times looks at the big economic talks betweenjapan and china set for later this month. according to diplomatic sources, the meetings will take place in tokyo and they're the first to happen in more than seven years. and finally, the south china morning post front page features a story on the battle againstjewellery shop heists in hong kong. the paper says a popularjewellery chain has upgraded security at its stores after several smash and grab robberies across the city. now, what stories are sparking discussions online? karishma, if like me you can't imagine climbing everest once, then 22 ascents seems impossible. but nepali climber kami rita sherpa has now officially set off

in an attempt to do just that. 22 is the record and sunday morning, after his prayers, he began another journey to the top. a successful summit could cement his place as the world's most experienced everest climber. he first climbed everest in 1994 and completed his most recent ascent last may. what an amazing story. let's return to our top story now. the apparent thawing in relations between north and south korea, with pyongyang hosting k—pop stars in the presence of kim jong—un. is this a sign of togetherness, or a tactic by the north ahead of talks with donald trump? let's cross to seoul now and speak to young rok. he used to lead international projects for the north korea strategy center. the body aims to promote what it describes as a "free and open north korea"

thank you so muchjoining us thank you so much joining us today. i want to get a sense from you how significant this visit is. hello. thank you for having me. i think the event itself symbolises the mending of many different incidents that have happened in the past. it definitely opens up many gateways for future interactions. definitely opens up many gateways forfuture interactions. kim definitely opens up many gateways for future interactions. kim jong—un himself had said let us do another one in the autumn. but, like we all know, situations relating to north korea, south korea, and the korean peninsular can change from something peaceful to very violent. so we will

have two watch and see how significant this event actually is. 0n significant this event actually is. on that point about the fact that it is such a volatile relationship between the two sites, and as you point out, kim jong—un himself between the two sites, and as you point out, kimjong—un himself is between the two sites, and as you point out, kim jong—un himself is a very volatile man, how does it feel asa very volatile man, how does it feel as a young person who has grown up on the peninsula watching this kind of tension, and a juncture such as this, does it give you hope? personally, as someone who has been involved and has been enthusiastic about the sector and the topic, i think they definitely pay attention to it. and it makes me nervous, at times, hopeful at times, to it. and it makes me nervous, at times, hopefulat times, hopeful during situations or event like the concerts. the general feeling during situations or event like the concerts. the generalfeeling i am getting though is one of maybe apathy among the public, because we have been exposed to it for such a long time. i guess there must be a

sense of just how long time. i guess there must be a sense ofjust how difficult a problem this is to sell. briefly, give mea problem this is to sell. briefly, give me a sense of what the concert is like, of the bands. they say k—pop, but there are artists from the 1970s who were famous in the 19705, the 1970s who were famous in the 1970s, those famous in the 1980s, 19905, 1970s, those famous in the 1980s, 1990s, and current k—pop idols were sent, i think that was just to show the north korean audience a more diverse range of south korean music. thank you very much, young rok. the world's busiest subway was brought to a standstill in march 1995 as a mysterious substance was released across tokyo's underground system. it turned out to be the deadly nerve gas, sarin. 13 people died in the attack and thousands more were affected. it was carried out by the aum shinrikyo cult. 13 members were found guilty and there's now speculation that the government is preparing to execute them. rupert wingfield—hayes reports from tokyo. it isa

it is a spring morning in 1995 and panic has struck the tokyo metro. people are collapsing and struggling for breath. fjord trains have been hit by a mass attack using a deadly nerve agent called sarin. the sarin gas has been made by followers of this man, shoko asahara, the leader ofa this man, shoko asahara, the leader of a religious cult called aum shinrikyo. this woman's husband was on duty at the station when the gas was released. he rushed to help people, was overcome, and collapsed on the platform. translation: my husband had no idea it was sarin gas, he was in the middle of a terrorist attack. by the

time they realise, my husband was already down. he started to have a convulsion and seizures. her husband was one of 13 who died. 6000 others suffered varying degrees of poisoning. in 2004, shoko asahara and 12 of his followers were sentenced to death for planning and carrying out the attack. now the final barrier to the executions has been removed. this behind me is the tokyo detention house and this is worth shoko asahara and the other senior sarin leaders have been held for the last 13 years. but in the last few years, several of the aum shinrikyo leaders have been moved it to other high security presence in japan, suggesting the japanese government is now preparing for the executions and that those executions could it carried out on the same day. was it very pats, a lot of

people on the train? yes, suddenly... it left this woman with permanent nerve damage and partial loss of vision. 23 years later the trauma of that day comes rushing back at the mention of shoko asahara's name. i hope he... never to... shoko asahara still has followers. the religious cult he founded still exists. albeit under a different name. some fear the execution could

turn him into a saint. after 23 yea rs turn him into a saint. after 23 years it appears it will now happen. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. china rolls out new tariffs on us meat, fruit and other products. it's a retaliation to president donald trump taxes on imported steel and aluminium, and is the latest move in an escalating trade dispute between the two super powers. and before we go, our regular viewers will know how we're fascinated by robots here on newsday. so here's a robot doing a gangnam style dance. not only is it a great dancer, it also has a serious purpose. its main role is to teach languages to children. it's called elias, it speaks 23 languages, and it's being tested at a school in finland. but first and foremost, it's a great mover. that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. hello there. 0ur easter sunday wasn't too bad. the best of the sunshine was

reserved a cross the best of the sunshine was reserved across the north on in the west of scotland. we look to the south for the next area of low pressure which will bring disruptive weather. monday, areas of rain, sleet, and snow. it continues to push northwards during the early hours of easter monday with snowfall likely across the higher ground of wales into central and northern england and even towards northern ireland by the early part of easter monday. colds, click on the across scotla nd monday. colds, click on the across scotland where we have clear skies and widespread frost. for easter monday morning, there could be travel disruption across northern ireland into central, southern scotla nd ireland into central, southern scotland and northern england. widespread, heavy wet snow could see up widespread, heavy wet snow could see up to 10— 15 centimetres over the north pennines and into the southern uplands. drifting of that snow because of the wind. likely to see snow down to the global levels as

well. a mixture of severe weather for the easter monday morning. further south, mainly rain. for the easter monday morning. furthersouth, mainly rain. for england and wales milder and moving in. there will be some sunny spells. temperatures in double figures. 10— 13 degrees. cold and dry across the northern half of scotland with some wintry showers. if you are on the move easter monday bear in mind there is snow across central and northern areas that could cause problems. a big area of low pressure will be close to the uk as we head into the latter part of monday and into the latter part of monday and into tuesday. 0ne into the latter part of monday and into tuesday. one thing it will be doing is dragging up mild airfrom spain and from france. initially across england and wales and then pushing on into southern scotland and northern england produced it. there is the remnants of the sleet and snow across the northern half of scotland. heavy snow, drifting in the heavy wind. 0utbreaks scotland. heavy snow, drifting in the heavy wind. outbreaks of rain. england and wales could see sunny spells, maybe some heavy, thundery

april showers. look at those temperatures. the mild air, 13 — 15 celsius. milder than we have been used. low pressure still with us from tuesday into wednesday. eastern areas will see the milder air. cold outpouring in behind the low pressure. 0utbreaks outpouring in behind the low pressure. 0utbrea ks of outpouring in behind the low pressure. outbreaks of rain turning increasingly wintry over the higher ground of scotland and the lower levels. elsewhere for england and wales it is another day for heavy april may be thundery showers and some sunny april may be thundery showers and some sunny spells. again, feeling quite mild. temperatures in the double figures. it have

to —— hello. i'm kasia madera. you're watching bbc world news. our top story: it's pop music diplomacy. north korea's leader kimjong—un has attended a concert in pyongyang by internationally famous k—pop stars from south korea. the concert is being seen as another sign of the improving relations on the korea peninsula. later this month, the two korean leaders will meet, and a meeting between kimjong—un and president trump could take place after that. they're returning to ruins. thousands of residents of the battle—scarred philippine city of marawi have been allowed home for the first time. and this story is trending on bbc.com. a nepali climber and guide, kami rita sherpa, is beginning an attempt to break the world record for the biggest number of successful climbs to the top of mount everest. it's his 22nd ascent. that's all from me.

stay with us here on bbc world news. now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk.