i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: president trump meets with military advisors. he says major decisions would be taken within 48 hours on what action to take after the suspected syrian chemical attack. the fbi raids the offices of president trump's personal lawyer. mr trump calls it a disgrace and a total witch hunt. i'm lebo diseko in london. also in the programme: in the coming hour china's president, xijinping, is expected to address the issue of a potential trade war with the us. and, as scientists discover increased snowfall in antarctica, what does it mean for global warming? good morning.

it is 7:00am in singapore, midnight in london, and 7:00pm in new york, where the un security council has met in 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 is our middle east editorjeremy bowen. 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 is 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 than at any time since the war began in 2011. it is 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 is 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 has 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 asked her what the us hoped to achieve from this. well, you know, when upi speak to us experts, they say that usa, france and the uk are going through the proper international channels, trying to say that once more they have gone through the united nations security council, just ticked 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 draft us resolution which aims to set up an impartial panel to investigate these cases of chemical weapons use in syria. now, russia has says that the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons' fact—finding mission can come to douma tomorrow, that they and 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. but 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 were found responsible for using chemical weapons. so all of this means is that the security council remains deadlocked. and in fact, we've seen through this

security council meeting that tensions between the west and russia as tense as they have ever been. we've heard the russian ambassador there saying it's 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. 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 will 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 is 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 ten. 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 is 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. what we know is that officials raided the office home and apparently in a hotel in which michael cohen, president trump's personal lawyer, had been staying and they recovered various documents, financial documents relating to some of his clients, including president trump. they confiscated his mobile phone, it's been reported, and a 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 a sexual affair with donald trump several years ago. mr trump, of course, denies this. now, michael cohen's lawyer, a short while ago, said that the action on the part of the us attorney's office in new york, they're 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 potential criminal action, and they forwarded that information to the local officials. now, 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 fire the special prosecutor, robert mueller, he said, many have said that i should fire him. we will see what happens. facebook has started telling users if they are among the 87 million people whose data was shared with the controversial firm cambridge analytica. it is one of the social media site's largest data breaches. millions of users have been affected here in the uk, in the us, the philippines, indonesia and australia. here is 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. 1 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 our 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 there's — 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 is 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. president xi jinping 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. with me is david adelman, former us ambassador to singapore. of course the trade row is something we have been focused on the last week or so, billions of dollars of ta riffs involved week or so, billions of dollars of tariffs involved here. now while you we re tariffs involved here. now while you were based in singapore you had some insight into the decision—makers who are making a lot of these decisions 110w are making a lot of these decisions now in china and the us. what can you tell us about them, and where do you tell us about them, and where do you think this is headed? well, it isa you think this is headed? well, it is a great question, and all the world i think is watching to see where this is headed. as far as the dynamic between the two teams, this is happening at the very highest level. so we can expect on both the

us side, led by the ambassador, on the chinese side, led by their ambassador, they are taking their cu es ambassador, they are taking their cues from the very top, president trump and president xi jinping, cues from the very top, president trump and president xijinping, in this case. my hope is there is an interest on both sides on the escalating this, taking some of the pressure out, and i think in a matter of an hour or two we will hear from matter of an hour or two we will hearfrom president xijinping, and that may very well give us a signal as to whether there is a mutual interest in trying to lighten up some of the rhetoric. and he is expected to speak in the next hour 01’ so. expected to speak in the next hour or so. what i guessjust going in a little bit more about the insight that you gleaned from having been based here a number of years, you led several trade missions in the region. tell us what goes on behind closed doors at meetings like this, when they are trying to de—escalate the situation, as you say. first, to 0riente you a little bit, president 0bama was executing on his pivot to asia, so the emphasis, really, was

increasing trade, working to further engage all of the countries in asia, to improve the transpacific trade and investment flows, for that matter. president trump came into office i suppose with a very different sentiment, this america first campaign theme was decidedly protectionist. so what is going on in the rooms, and now around these issues, may feel very different from what i experienced, which was coming out of the global financial crisis, a real interest in a deeper trade and investment engagement. that being said, and what i know about what happens in these talks is they are probably constructive to the extent they are talking. i think there is probably a sense on both sides of the pacific that ultimately a trade war, a looming trade war, is not in the interest of the global economy. these are two very much interdependent economies. they need

each other. and i think decision—makers in beijing and washington both know that. thank you so much forjoining us and coming into the studio and speaking to us about that. you are watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: scientists say it is 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: thousands of noisy corellas, they are a type of white cockatoo, have been terrorising residents in the south australian capital of adelaide. 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.

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 your 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. scientists say it is now snowing much harder in antarctica than it was two hundred 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 roll 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 were able to compile about 75 ice core records from across antarctica and put them together in an intelligent way so we combined 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 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? i think, as you already mentioned, it's very clear that antarctica is losing mass. snowfall gains mean the losses are not as big so that is 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 unfortunately, it's stilljust not enough, the ice sheets are still shrinking. it could be a scene straight out of a hitchcock movie. take a look at this. thousands of noisy corellas — they're a type of white cockatoo — have been terrorising residents in the south australian capital of adelaide, wreaking havoc to street lights, signs and trees in

their search for food. the local council in the suburb of playford has tried using everything from drones to pyrotechnics to move them on but has only managed to bring down their numbers by two thirds. for more, let's bring in glenn docherty, the mayor of playford, north of adelaide. why's it been so hard to get rid of them? good morning. it's been a flood of birds in the city of playford, thousands of white corellas attacking our community. —— community. we have seen flocks in their thousands. they get into public furniture, into playgrounds, attacked buildings and air—conditioning systems. it's been causing havoc. why has it been so ha rd to causing havoc. why has it been so hard to get rid of them. we've done a number of things. we are pyrotechnics and fireworks. a falcon

isa pyrotechnics and fireworks. a falcon is a natural predator to the corellas to help disperse those blocks. so they don't roost in our local community. making some loud noises. different distractions to help move along so they create a new home. there are still plenty of birds around. people must be pretty fed up. it must be hard to go about your business with that racket going on. it is, and the sight and sound that you've seen from some of the clips. it's hard to get outside in these warmer days and have a barbecue or kids birthday party when all you see as thousands of corellas blocking of abuse that's why we've made sure we have been out there to disperse them because it really is a sight to see that it can inhibit your daily activities in the local community and we don't want that the local residents. what are you going to do to bring the numbers down? from our point of view, we've been able to disperse them, moving map

back to their natural habitats in northern parts of south australia. they have been breeding real because of abundant food and water sources in the periurban areas of adelaide we re in the periurban areas of adelaide were our council is still as the weather starts to change, they will go back to them or natural habitat in the drier parts of the state ‘s we will disperse them but we are working with the australian and south australian governments about what they are going to do with the numbers of corellas because they are getting into really large numbers across south australia which is not good the local communities. glenn docherty, mayor of playford, thank you. you have been watching newsday. coming up: move over carrie bradshaw. the well—heeled in asia are getting a bigger chunk of the high—heeled market. manolo blahnik is expanding into the region but we'll find out why the legendary footwear company won't be opening stores in china. and before we go, have a look at this. passengers on a train in eastern

india had a narrow escape after 22 carriages detached, and started rolling backwards. the carriages were carrying more than a thousand people as they sped backwards for more than seven miles, before being brought to a stop by wooden wedges being placed on the tracks. no—one was hurt, and authorities are trying to find out what happened. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. hello again, good morning. west wales, the far south—west of england saw the best of the temperatures and sunshine

on monday but for the many other of the uk, it was rather dull and misty. we saw rain developing more widely across england, pushing into wales and that will continue to work its way northwards and for most of us, disappointing temperatures this week. a lot of cloud and some rain at times. easterly winds are setting up so it is always be better towards more western parts of the uk. at the moment, our weather map is dominated by a large area of low pressure which is not really going anywhere at all, picking rain up from iberia and pushing it towards france and heading it towards our shores. so the rain that's been developing continues to work its way northwards through the day, away eventually from northern england up into scotland apart from the far north—west. some wetter weather later for northern ireland. some cloud behind that, rather misty in the hills as it brightens up across the southern parts of england. and as we get some sunshine, it will get a bit warmer but it could trigger some heavy showers around too and will continue into the evening.

0vernight, that rain moving away from northern ireland and scotland. the next area of rain comes in around our area of low pressure, originating from germany, moving across the low countries and heading towards england and wales. some uncertainty about exactly where the rain is going to be on wednesday. at the moment, it looks more likely across the midlands, wales, possibly into northern england. should be drier for scotland and northern ireland. again, not too bad for the north—west of scotland but across eastern scotland, north—east england, higher and fret, low cloud, mist and drizzle really low temperatures as well. get some sunshine again across southern counties of england, those temperatures getting into the midteens easily. stronger winds in an easterly wind, always stronger across the northern across the northern half of the uk, high—pressure blocking things off from scandinavia, low pressure across france maintaining that easterly flow. not much wind though further south across the uk, so we get a bit of sunshine, it shouldn't feel too bad. some heavy rain developing in the south—east later on and further north, it's always going to be the eastern side of scotland and north—east england which will be dull and damp, still quite cold as well.

still the same sort of weather pattern, low pressure to the south of us, high pressure to the north and across scandinavia, keeping the stronger easterly winds this time, more for northern and eastern areas of scotland where we'll see some more rain developing, probably on friday, pushing across northern england for a time. a litte bit brighter further south. some warmth when the sun does come out but still the potential for some showers across england and wales. so quite a range of temperatures for most of us. a disappointing week ahead into the weekend. it's more likely to be wet and windy for northern and western areas of the uk. warmer, drier and brighter in the south—east. i'm with bbc news. our top story: there has been international condemnation of the suspected chemical weapons attack in syria. at an emergency meeting of the united nations security council, the us has said it will take action regardless of whether the un acts or not.

mark zuckerberg will testify before congress for the first time on tuesday after the cambridge analytica scandal. the facebook ceo has acknowledged his company did not do enough to stop data misuse. and this story is trending on bbc.com: president trump has branded an fbi raid on the offices of his personal lawyer a disgrace. agents seized documents from michael cohen which included files relating to the payment of a $130,000 to a porn star, stormy daniels. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: