welcome to newsday. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: president trump says he'll decide within 48 hours on what action to take against syria, after a suspected chemical attack on a rebel—held town. the fbi raids the offices of president trump's personal lawyer. mr trump calls it a disgrace. i'm lebo diseko in london. also in the programme: the indian leopards who've adopted sugarcane fields as their home, putting them in direct conflict with local farmers. and we'll be looking at why increased snowfall in antarctica is actually a bad thing. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 7am here in singapore, midnight in london and 7pm in new york — where the un security council has met

in an emergency session to discuss the suspected chemical attack in a rebel—held syrian town. the ambassador from russia, which backs syria, said the use of chemical gas was "not confirmed". the us ambassador called syria's president assad a monster who must be held to account. earlier, president trump said "major decisions" about a response to the attack would be made in the next 48 hours. here's our middle east editor, jeremy bowen. a warning that his report contains some images which you may find distressing. most of the casualties in syria's war were attacked with bullets and high explosive, but chemical weapons are the special horror. this is the aftermath of what witnesses said was a chemical attack, as douma — a town just outside damascus — fell to the regime. we're not showing you pictures we have of dozens of dead bodies with foam on their mouths, which can be a sign of a chemical attack. all this is not evidence of the use

of chemical weapons by the regime, say the russians. president trump doesn't believe them. we'll be making some major decisions over the next 24 to 48 hours. if it's russia, if it's syria, if it's iran, if it's all of them together, we'll figure it out and we'll know the answers quite soon. in seven years of fighting, syria's war has changed from a campaign to overthrow the regime to a mini world war, that's being fought by many of the world's most powerful countries and looks to be escalating. at the un in new york, stark divisions over syria and weapons of mass destruction, wmds, are expanding into an even more serious international crisis. translation: russia is being unpardonably threatened. the tone of the way this is being done has gone

beyond the threshold of what is acceptable, even during the cold war. the russian ambassador referred to a resurgence of the cold war. this is not the cold war, mr president. in the cold war, there was not this flagrant disregard for the prohibitions that are universal on the use of wmds. a year ago, the americans retaliated after another chemical attack on syrian civilians. it was mostly symbolic. the assad regime, with russian and iranian help, has continued to strengthen its position. from the start of the war, the us, britain and their allies called for president assad to go, but they didn't back their words with deeds. when the president was vunerable, the us and the uk chose not to act. now he has the firm backing

of iran's supreme leader ayatollah khamenei, and of course, russia's president, putin. that makes him stronger now than at any time since the war began in 2011. it's hard to see what the west can do to change that. the americans and the british missed their chance. in the last 48 hours, syria's mini world war has been heating up. this is said to be an israeli jet crossing lebanon to raid syria. in february, the israelis had a plane shot down as it hit the same target — an airbase called t4. hitting t4 was not about chemical weapons, but israel's fight with iran. supporters of president assad took to the streets in aleppo — the city in which the coalition between the syrian regime, the russians, and the iranians scored their first significant

victory. they still look to be the war‘s big winners and it's hard to see how western retaliation for the latest chemical attack is going to change that. jeremy bowen, bbc news. let's get more now what's been happening at the united nations in the past few hours. i spoke earlier to our correspondent neda tawfik at the un in new york, and i asked her what the us hoped to achieve from this. to call to speak to the experts say that you are so, france and the uk are going through the proper international channels, trying to save out once more they have gone through the united nations security council just tick the box through the united nations security counciljust tick the box before they ultimately take their own action to make sure that president assad is punished for using chemical weapons in the past, and as they believe possibly using chemical weapons in this case in the douma. security council members are in the

middle of consultations as we speak over a d raft middle of consultations as we speak over a draft us resolution which aims to set up an impartial panel to investigate these cases of chemical weapons used in syria. russia has says that the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons's fact—finding mission can come to douma tomorrow, that they in the syrian government will ensure their safety on the ground to investigate but the key issue is accountability. this is something that the council had in the past, they had a mechanism to punish those who the panel found responsible at russia twice vetoed basically a resolution to extend that panel and has so far also refused to sanction the syrian regime for those cases in which they we re regime for those cases in which they were found responsible for using chemical weapons. all of this means is that the security council remains deadlocked and we have seen to this security council meeting that tensions between the west and russia

as tense as they have ever been. we have the russian ambassador there saying it is worse than the cold war even and certainly here in the united nations, officials have expressed concerns about all of this just escalating and creating more issues in the relationship between russia and and the west. our correspondent at the united nations there. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. north korea's foreign minister, ri yong—ho, has arrived in moscow for high—level talks. he'll meet his russian counterpart, sergei lavrov. earlier, donald trump said his meeting with north korean leader kim jong—un will be in may or earlyjune. and it's reported mr kim is willing to discuss ending his nuclear weapons programme. also making news today: at least 30 people, most of them children, have died after a school bus fell into a gorge in the northern indian state of himachal pradesh. most of the passengers were below the age of io. the bus driver and two teachers were also killed in the accident.

the fbi has raided the office of president trump's personal lawyer, michael cohen, and seized a variety of documents. it's understood some of the records involve his payment to the porn star stormy daniels, who claims to have had a brief affair with mr trump. and we'll have more on this story in a few moments. us senator tammy duckworth has given birth to a daughter, becoming the first senator to have a baby while in office. mrs duckworth is one of only 10 women in the history of the united states to give birth while in congress, with the other babies born to members serving in the house. president xijinping is expected to announce major economic reforms when he gives the keynote speech at the boao forum for asia in a few hours. the annual gathering of government and business leaders is being held in the southern province of hainan. president xi is also likely to address the issue of a potential trade war with the us.

take a look at this. a giant bronze statue of china's first emperor has taken a tumble in shandong province. let's look at this now. the 19 metre bronze cast of qin shi huang landed face first after high winds tipped it over, crushing the head of the terracotta warrior emperor. pictures of the statue reveal it to be hollow, supported by metal poles. facebook has started telling its users if they're among the 87 million people whose data was shared with that controversial firm, cambridge analytica. it is one of the social media site's largest ever data breaches. millions of users have been affected here in the uk, as well as the us, the philippines, indonesia and australia. here's our media editor, amol rajan. in less than a decade and a half, one company has done more

than any other to connect the world. and not always in a good way. each time we scroll, share or like something on facebook, we leave a digital footprint. and our personal data can be scraped by developers of apps. or applications, some of whom pass that information on to companies such as cambridge analytica. the british data firm's alleged use of such data has plunged facebook into the biggest crisis in its history. some 87 million users' data ended up in the firm's hands. i million of them british. this mathematician and entrepreneur gave evidence to mps at the same time as a whistle—blower who worked for cambridge analytica. the cambridge analytica story shows that their policies and practices are not sufficient to handle all the personal data properly. so i wouldn't trust facebook, or mark zuckerberg for that matter, with our personal data. the personal data is an extension of ourselves. do we really want to sell it, just like we would sell an organ, maybe?

so we have to be very careful there. today facebook pushed out three notifications to users. one was sent to all users, showing them how to remove apps they would rather didn't have access to their data. another was sent to those who had downloaded this is your digital life. it was this app which an academic used to harvest information that was sent on to cambridge analytica. and a third notification was sent to the friends of those who had downloaded this app. facebook used these messages to restate its effort to confront abuse. not so long ago, most of us kept our most personal information in something like this, in hard copy. if you lost it or if someone took it, then maybe one person would have access to that precious information. but now, most of us leave such information online and there, such information can be scraped, shared or marketed to thousands of people and once you lose control of it, it's very hard to get it back. facebook has spent much of the past 14 years apologising. as chief executive mark zuckerberg prepares to testify before us congress this week, the recent changes to their privacy settings

and today's notifications are a recognition that trust in their brand has been seriously damaged. amol rajan, bbc news. more now on a story developing out of the us, and the us president has dismissed an fbi raid on the officers of his lawyer michael cohen as, quote, "a total witch hunt". earlier, law enforcement agents seized records of payments to a porn star, stormy daniels. david willisjoins me live from los angeles. the president is also calling this a witch—hunt. what more do we know about this raid? what we know is that officials raided the office home and apparently a hotel in which michael cohen and, president trump's personal lawyer, had been staying in and they recovered various documents, financial documents

relating to some of his clients, including president trump. they confiscated his mobile phone, it has been reported, and the computer, and they found amongst the documents, reports suggest, some relating to a 2016 payment to the adult film star stormy daniels, who has alleged that she had an affair with donald trump several years ago. mr trump, she had an affair with donald trump severalyears ago. mrtrump, of course, denies this. michael cohen's lawyer, a short while ago, said that the action on the part of the us attorney's office in new york, the people who carried out this raid, was undertaken by way of a referral from the office of the special counsel robert mueller, the suggestion being that robert mueller and his team, who are looking into possible collusion between the trump campaign and russia in the run—up to the 2016 election came across something that they thought

constituted a potential criminal action and they forwarded that information to the local officials. president trump, as you mentioned, has said that this is a disgraceful situation, an attack on our country, as he put it, and asked by a reporter will he now fired the special prosecutor robert mueller, he said many have said that i should fire him, we will see what happens. and what are the implications if indeed that does happen, if he does via the special counsel, and the strong language he is using, saying this is an attack on the country? how damaging is this the president? president trump has long believed and long stated that the robert mueller investigation, as far as he and long stated that the robert if if? ji'fl. 1“ :.,.._;.s “a... and long stated that the robert m as that 35tigatiofij’fifar as’ ha; ilii, 7 taipei-poesy??? file'sefgfla'fie 15!

this f: been proven " " now, there are reports and already. now, there are reports and these are just in the washington post at the moment that michael cohen is being investigated, it is alleged, for a bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations. that reportjust in the washington post at the moment, so we will wait and see how all this pans out but president trump clearly very unhappy about this, almost fuming when he spoke to the press a short while ago about these and i think we can perhaps expect some heads to roll as it goes on here. thank you. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: scientists say it's now snowing much harder in antarctica than it was 200 years ago, causing a slight slowing down effect in the rise of global sea—levels. also on the programme: the indian leopards who've made sugarcane fields their home. we'll find out if man and beast can

learn to live peacefully side by side. 25 years of hatred and rage as theyjump up on the statue. this funeral became a massive demonstration of black power, the power to influence. today is about the promise of a bright future, a day when we hope a line can be drawn under the bloody past. i think that picasso's works were beautiful,

they were intelligent, and it's a sad loss to everybody who loves art. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. and i'm lebo diseko in london. our top stories: president trump says a major decision is coming within 48 hours after a suspected chemical attack on a rebel—held syrian town. facebook‘s founder mark zuckerberg has said a data breach on the network was due to his failure to appreciate how it could be "used for harm". let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. singapore's straits times claims the city—state's thirst for sweet drinks is fizzling out. apparently, sales have slumped with health conscious consumers. that's led to soft drink companies racing to come up with low—sugar options.

if you're growing tired of the cold weather, the new york times has a snap that could brighten your day. this magnificent beach is in east timor! the county is hoping to use this natural beauty to attract tourists, but without destroying the marine life. and the south china morning post features a local taxi, which found itself in a precarious position. it ended up hanging over the entrance to a subway in hong kong. the driver had to be freed by firefighters, but escaped with only minor injuries. now, what stories are sparking discussions online? yep, let's have a look at what is trending right now. the explosion of a silo in southern denmark had been planned for six

months and it was supposed to be a pretty routine demolition job. but then this happened. the 170—metre tower toppled the wrong way, damaging part of a library. luckily, no—one was hurt, and an investigation is under way. scientists say it is now snowing much harder in antarctica than it was 200 years ago. researchers compiled a record of snowfall by analysing ice cores drilled from across the polar continent. although the additional snowfall has reduced the sea level, correspondents say it's not enough to counteract ice losses at antarctica's edges. as you said, it's been a lot of work from across many different agencies and many different countries and the idea was, we really wanted to

understand how snowfall is changing over the antarctic ice sheet because as you said it impacts sea levels so we we re as you said it impacts sea levels so we were able to compile about 75 ice core records from across antarctica and put them together in an intelligent way so we combine the records which give us the really long history, the 200— year history as you mentioned but we can combine it with climate models which give us a perfectly spatial picture of the snowfall changes. it seems like all we ever seem snowfall changes. it seems like all we ever seem to snowfall changes. it seems like all we ever seem to hear snowfall changes. it seems like all we ever seem to hear these days in the headlines and news is global warming, how the ice is melting. did it surprise you that you are seeing increases in snowfall? actually, it's what we would expect. in a warmer world, as the temperatures gets warmer, that means the air can hold more moisture and we would

expect that moisture can travel to antarctica and be deposited in the form of snow is so we anticipated to see this but this is really the first time we can say confidently from observations that we are starting to see this change. how is this potentially good news when it comes to global warming. perhaps things are not as bad as we fear. comes to global warming. perhaps things are not as bad as we fearlj think, as you already mentioned, it's very clear that antarctica is losing mass. snowfall gains mean the losses are losing mass. snowfall gains mean the losses a re not losing mass. snowfall gains mean the losses are not as big is that is good news but at the end of the day, theice good news but at the end of the day, the ice sheets are shrinking and contributing to sea level rises so we are trying to understand the two pieces of the puzzle, how much snow falls, and we have to understand the ice losses at the periphery and u nfortu nately, ice losses at the periphery and unfortunately, it's still just ice losses at the periphery and unfortunately, it's stilljust not enough, the ice sheets are still shrinking. being the indian cricket team has

not won a test in ten years. but a tea m not won a test in ten years. but a team of two is under way. it feels great to be back here. i have wonderful memories of 2015. i was really looking forward to meeting all the guys. we have the right balance to start focusing on the process. this time you are here for a good portion of the season. going back to india injune to play the 1—off test against afghanistan. bacteria is yorkshire again. the big

test series against england. is that pa rt test series against england. is that part of the reason for you coming here over again? this would definitely help me in the test series but this is not one of the reasons why i am here because even if there is no test series, i love being here and playing county cricket. it will be like a second home for me. i will be playing three months of county cricket and spending around five months here. over the years, leopards in the western indian state of maharashtra have adopted sugarcane fields as their home. but their close proximity to farmers has led to conflict. although they're a protected species, over 300 have been killed in the state over the past five years. translation: this is the third transition of the lepers to live in the sugar cane fields. they have never lived in the forest. we call them sugarcane leopards because they hunt here and have made this their home. translation: this is the harsh

reality and farmers should understand they are sharing the fields with these