i'm babita sharma in singapore. the headlines: the former director of the fbi, james comey, has told the bbc he does not think there is anyone around donald trump who can contain him. you have to think about it in a way you probably wouldn't have with other presidents. after six decades of castros there is a new leader in cuba. president miguel diaz—canel promises to continue communist rule in the country. i'm nuala mcgovern in london. also in the programme: drowning in plastic, how the world's waterways are being clogged by bags and bottles which will never disintegrate. i'm in indonesia, where there's so much plastic waste choking the rivers that the army has been called in to help. and acting the baddie in korea. why foreign actors are looking to south korean soap operas for their big break. good morning.

thanks forjoining us. it's 8am in singapore. iam in london and eight in the evening in new york, where james comey, the former director of the fbi, continues to spill the beans on his dealings with president donald trump. in an interview for the bbc newsnight, james comey, who was fired by mr trump, says he actually feels sorry for the president. here's some of that interview with emily maitlis. if you were still the director of the fbi? would you be saying, there is stuff i don't want to share with the us president right now, because he will lead it, and that's too dangerous for national security?

potentially. you'd have to be very careful, because you have an obligation under the constitution and the structure of our government to make sure the president has the information the president needs, so it's hard to answer that in the abstract, but you'd have to think about it in a way you probably wouldn't have with other presidents. james comey there. our washington correspondent chris buckler explained more about the impact of this interview. this is the latest in a series of james comey interviews in which the political has certainly given way to the personal. there's a real feeling from james comey as he relates his experiences of dealing with donald trump that he does not respect the man. like, that's another question, he said it wasn't a case of disliking him, it was a case of disliking his actions and fundamentally in this interview with newsnight he focused time and time again on the question of donald trump's behaviour, raising concerns that it was, in his words," corrosive", it was staining, it did damage to those people around him, all things that are pretty extraordinary and givenjames comey has been saying these kind of things, it's worth remembering it's pretty extraordinary to have a former head of the fbi

is saying that about a serving us president. yes, he was fired, but he says he still has concerns about donald trump's behaviour, including his postings on twitter when he wakes up in the morning. i wake up some mornings and read the president is demanding the jailing of private citizens, occasionally me, and so that's one of the reasons i'm confident the answer is there are not adequate people around him to stop impulsive behaviour. we've actually become numb to it in the united states. our president calling for the imprisonment of private citizens. he's been doing the rounds, hasn't he? i wonder what your assessment is now of what happens to him after this is? from james comey‘s point of view, what we certainly saw in this

particular interview is a step away from wanting to be personal about donald trump. he's trying to make this a lot more about a question of leadership, a question of politics and a question of how a president should act. in previous interviews, for example, he's talked about donald trump's tan and hands and hair, which is, i have to say, in his book as well, but a small section of the book. he is trying to look at donald trump's leadership. there's also the thorny issue of robert mueller, the special counsel investigation, which continues to go on as we have these interviews out there and i suppose there is a very careful tightrope for james comey to walk here, and that is to make his own presence felt, to say what he has concerns about, but not to interfere with that investigation taking place by the special counsel. he's already made clear in some other interviews

that there are things he cannot say, for example, and it's worth remembering that even at this juncture, donald trump is still being asked questions. for example, he was asked questions just yesterday about whether or not he would fire robert mueller, for example, questions which he's not answering directly. although it's worth saying that here in america, the washington post is reporting that rudy giuliani, the former new york mayor, has now been appointed to donald trump's own personal legal team and in an interview with the washington post rudy giuliani said in his view he was there to try to bring to an end the mueller investigation. it doesn't look like it's going end and certainly the questions about donald trump aren't either. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. cuba has a new president and, for the first time in six decades, he's not one of the castro family. miguel diaz—canel was sworn in at the national assembly

a few hours ago. he's a staunch ally of the out—going president raul castro — and he says he has a mandate to continue the cuban revolution. as our correspondent in havana will grant explains, relations with the us have deteriorated since donald trump came to power. miguel diaz—canel inherits an island that is so far removed on one level than the place that was in a very good relationship between president obama and president raul castro, that has almost been forgotten now it is so rocky, we know that the embassy here has been all but closed. it is still open, so there are still diplomatic ties, but it is virtually understaffed. there was this strange episode with the 20 or so us diplomats with various ailments that they say were health attacks that may or may not have been carried out by the cubans, the cubans roundly deny that. things are at a very low ebb. what we do know is president trump made reference to the new president here when he was asked about him, he said we love cuba and we want to help them.

what exactly that means we don't know of course, and quite what mr diaz—canel intends to do with washington is also very murky still. also making news today: international experts have still to enter the syrian town of douma to investigate a suspected chemical weapons attack there. their mission was delayed on tuesday when an advance un team said it came under small arms fire. the us defence secretary has suggested the syrian regime may have brought about the delays on purpose in order to tamper with evidence. a minnesota prosecutor has said there isn't enough evidence to bring criminal charges against anyone over the death of the musician, prince. the singer died from an opioid overdose at his paisley park complex near minneapolis two years ago. the official cause of death was a self—administered overdose of the painkiller fentanyl, but no prescriptions were found. humans are able to adapt genetically to make them better deep sea divers, that's according to scientists studying nomadic seafarers in indonesia. they found that the bajau people

have developed spleens 50% bigger than those of their neighbours who live on land. it means that they have more oxygen in their bodies, allowing them to dive to depths of around 70 metres and hold their breath for up to 13 minutes underwater. now, if you've ever moved home and struggled to put together your new furniture — take a look at this. it's a robot, developed at a university in singapore, and its inventors claim it can put together an ikea dining chair in under nine minutes. they haven't said how long it takes the average human to put the same chair together. but we think it is probably a little bit longer. get ready for some staggering images. plastic bags and bottles are cheap, convenient, and durable. in fact, they're virtually indestructible — and that's giving the world a big headache. more than eight million tons

of plastic enter the sea every year. in indonesia, pollution is so bad that the government has deployed the army to deal with the problem. our science editor, david shukman reports. soldiers hack away at a dense mass of plastic waste. it's hard to believe, but this is actually a river, and they're trying to clear it up. you can just see the water, underneath all the bags, containers and bottles. this is bandung, one of many indonesian cities choking on so much waste that the army has been called in. for the military, plastic is a new and strange kind of enemy. this looks like a rubbish dump, it certainly smells like one, but what's striking is that this massive accumulation of plastic is happening on indonesia's rivers despite the country making a huge effort for several years now to tackle it. itjust shows you the staggering

scale of the problem. all the time that the soldiers are at work, the flow of the river brings yet more more plastic waste. it's a constant struggle for the officials in charge. do you think you are winning this battle against the plastic? i think so. yeah, we have to win. if not it is dangerous for our lives. but, how long will it take you? i'm sure within ten years. within ten years you could clear everything up? yes. while we are filming the soldiers realise they don't have enough trucks to carry away the waste, so they use a diggerjust to push it downstream. it's not exactly a long—term solution, and the plastic floats away to become someone else‘s problem. and part of that problem is that this landfill site is the only one bandung has. the convoys of rubbish trucks collect just a fraction of the waste

generated by several million people in the city. a new load is dumped, flies swarm in the tropical heat. people rush to be first to search the rubbish. it's incredibly risky, dodging an excavator. someone died here recently. but ironically, they're after the very things that most people want to get rid of, a plastic bottle. little by little the message is spreading that recycling can create an income. in a village outside the city, the scheme is tiny, but it's one of many. and separating the different types of plastic earns a higher price. experts say that a culture ofjust throwing things away is now changing. i think particularly the young people here are very much aware of that they don't want to be part of this problem,

and they want to have a future that is at least a plastic—free environment. so they're working hard for that. but a view from the air reveals just how massive the challenge is. plastic dumped close to the river soon finds its way into the water and then downstream. and down at the coast, a fishing village looks like it's drowning in plastic. the children here are growing up surrounded by the stuff. it's depressing evidence ofjust how much still needs to be done to clear it up. so what begins as a local problem of failing to handle waste turns into a global one as the oceans fill with plastic. david shukman, bbc news, indonesia. those pictures are really quite something. earlier this evening, here in london, queen elizabeth has been hosting a banquet

at buckingham palace for leaders of the commonwealth. she's been presiding over the leaders‘ two—yearly meeting, or chogm, as it's sometimes called. a few hours before that, queen elizabeth, who's 92, made the case for her son, prince charles, to take over from her, as the next head of the commonwealth, when the time comes. it is my sincere wish that the commonwealth will continue to offer stability and continuity for future generations and will decide that one day the prince of wales should carry on the important work started by my father in 1949. by continuing to treasure and reinvigorate our associations and activities, i believe we will secure a safer, more prosperous and sustainable world for those who follow us. you may not know it, but the asia—pacific region has the second

highest prevalence of hiv in the world. ona highest prevalence of hiv in the world. on a 5.1 million people in the region of the violence, and 270,000 people are infected with hiv each year. the good news is that the annual number of new hiv infections in the region has dropped 13% over the to 2016. the steep reductions in thailand and myanmar. there have been big increases in some countries, including the philippines, pakistan, and sri lanka. earlier i spoke to a doctor, a research focusing on hiv infection in asia. i began by asking him how having many different types of the virus poses difficulties when it comes to screening patients. the issue with hiv and hepatitis viruses like hepatitis b and hepatitis c, is that the genetic diversity is extremely high and these viruses evolve at a rapid rate. so the concern is the challenge that poses

deep diagnostic tests of blood screening tests, is that if the virus mutates all new strains emerge that are very diverse, they may not be detected accurately or reliably by these tests. so it was recognising this problem and our concerns with the diversification with hiv and hepatitis that, more than 20 years ago, we created the added viral surveillance programme. with the overarching goal of being able to monitor the diversification of the virus globally and to ensure that the test that we create could reliably detect all of the strains, because every strain is literally a plane ride away from somewhere else. that is so scary when you put it like that. but this surveillance programme, and would imagine, is a global one given it affects everyone. why look at this region in particular? well, we have turned to

asia for a practical reality, more than half the wealth of the population is in the asia—pacific region. there are 5.1 million individuals infected with hiv. when we look at the hepatitis c virus, evenif we look at the hepatitis c virus, even if you look atjust india and china together, it is estimated anywhere from 16 million to 22 million are infected with that. hepatitis b is even more severe. between india and china, probably 130 million people have hepatitis b virus and is, you know, you consider thatis virus and is, you know, you consider that is almost 40% of the entire level burden. doctorjohn hackett. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the foreign actors heading to south korea as the country's tv soap opera industry explodes onto the world stage. also on the programme: an australian diving team gets a surprise when it finds an unknown shipwreck off the coast of western australia the stars and stripes at half—mast outside columbine high,

the school sealed off and the bodies of the dead still inside. i never thought that they would actually go through with it. some places and have already had nearly as much rain as they would normally expect in an entire year. for millions of americans, the death of richard nixon in a new york hospital has meant conflicting emotions. a national day of mourning, next wednesday, sitting somehow uneasily with the abiding memories of the shame of watergate. and lift off of the space shuttle discovery with the hubble space telescope — our window on the universe.

welcome back. this is newsday on the bbc. thanks forjoining us. i'm babita sharma in singapore. i'm nuala mcgovern in london. our top stories: former fbi director, james comey speaks to the bbc and says he'd think twice sharing sensitive information with president trump. there's a new president in cuba and he says communism will continue after six decades of the castros. and the african nation that was known as swaziland has a new name. the country's king declaring it will now be called the kingdom of eswatini. it comes on the 50th anniversary of swazi independence. more on that story, which is popular on bbc.com.

let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. we begin with the japan times, which is leading with the two—day meeting between us president trump and japan's prime minister shinzo abe. it says while abe is plagued with scandals back home, at least he had some success in the united states, with the two countries agreeing to keep maximum pressure on north korea to denuclearize. over to the gulf news, which is focusing on a long—awaited military arms exports deal. the us has rolled out a new policy aimed at boosting arms sales to its allies and cutting the time it takes to approve arms deals. and in france, le figaro is talking about president emmanuel macron‘s controversial labour reforms. it has this photo of the president being confronted by railway workers, pensioners and angry citizens in vosges. he was there to try and explain the reforms to locals. that's how the papers

are this morning. let's take a few minutes with a mapping team that has made a surprise discovery of a shipwreck off the coast of western australia. scientists had a shock when a large mystery structure appeared on their screen as they were mapping the ocean floor with sonar. they sent a camera down to investigate and — lo and behold — it was a sunken ship. the wreck is thought to date from after 1900, but more than that no—one knows. miles parsons is one of the research scientists who was there at the moment when the shipwreck was discovered. it was particularly exciting. as you said, we were out mapping the sea floor and the habitat with the sonar system on the boat and then literally out of the blue, a structure appeared on screen which we weren't expecting. and i mentioned briefly it's a shipwreck. can you tell us anything more

about where it might have come from or what it might have looked like? well, it's pretty much intact. certain parts of the superstructure are still there. apart from that, it is a 37m—long vessel and it's between 6m and 7m wide but we have passed on all of the details to the wa museum which will take it further in terms of identification. so what happens, does it stay down there? yes, it will stay down there, depending on what actually the outcome is from the wa museum. if it did turn out to be a historic wreck, then they will take further action and investigate but if not, they will take it from there as well. the australian maritime society will decide as to what kind of indication needs to be given to mariners. this particular area, though, when you get into western australia, particularly outside perth, there have been a number

of shipwrecks found, right? yes, and there's likely to be a fair few more out there, ranging right back from the expeditions coming over here, and the dutch vessels in the 1600s. but yes, it's a fairly unusual find for me. that is miles parsons speaking to us from perth. south korean tv soap operas have taken the world by storm. but how easy is it for foreign actors to make it big in the k—drama industry? we've been speaking to some foreign actors in south korea, to find out. as a foreign actor, if you think you are going to just stand out automatically in korea, you are absolutely wrong. i feel i'm an outcast, or not included. i'm carson allen, i'm 22 years

old and i am an aspiring foreign actress in korea. the first korean drama i watched was boys over flowers. i wanted to follow a passion i have for acting, but in a korean drama. unfortunately, a lot of times us foreigners here are put into a stereotype that we can only be an english teacher or in a business meeting or if that particular character went abroad and they are filming as if it was another country, then that is the only time we'll be used. thanks again, bye. we filmed through the night in filming pools here in korea and,

in the end, you probably didn't see me. i am leaving my country, passport in hand, visa in hand, and i'm going to a place where i don't speak the language, no—one looks like me. this is the most nerve—racking thing i have ever done.

being a foreign actor in korea is extremely fulfilling, however it is a lot of work. i've done an american representative, a tourist husband, i've played a thug. it's been all over the map for me here in korea and that has been because of my image, beecause of how i presented myself. like this. ‘cause that's where you get your present, that's why. asian faces all around you and you're not going to just stand out just because you're the foreigner, you've got to do something unique. a whole other film industry. you have been watching newsday. but before we go, let's take a look at these pictures. this is the heatwave we've been seeing in london, and indeed many parts of the uk, and it's been quite a big deal over here. hello again.

yesterday proved to be a real scorcher. temperatures got up to 29.1 celsius in london's stjames's park, making it the warmest april day for nearly 70 years. you have to go all the way back to 19119 to find a warmer april day. and for many of us, we had clear blue sunny skies like this pretty much all day. for the early risers this morning, some mist and fog patches to watch out for, particularly western wales and running through the bristol channel as well. there will be some changes in our weather today because the area of high pressure is still there that it's drifting a little bit further eastwards. the warmest air still across east anglia and south—east england but otherwise the air is increasingly blowing in off the atlantic and that will bring some cooler conditions to the uk. now, weatherwise, the early morning mist and fog patches should clear out of the way widely and most areas should see lots of sunshine again. there will, though, be a few showers for western scotland but most of these will be across the western highlands and really for the northern half of the uk, temperatures a few degrees down. still feeling pleasant if you're out and about in the sunshine but the warmest air more limited to east anglia and south—east

england. highs of 27 in london but i wouldn't mind betting that somewhere like in gravesend, it could even get warmer than that, 28 or maybe even a 29. friday night, we do it all again. clearing skies, a few mist and fog patches forming but but it will be a cooler night across scotland, northern ireland and northern england, quite chilly here indeed by the end of the night, with temperatures around 4 or 6 degrees. still in double figures, though, further south. the weekend, we will see some further changes in our weather. the temperatures will continue to ease back. there will still be some warm sunshine around but increasingly, we will see some thundery downpours breaking out and becom quite windy as well as the weekend goes by, particularly in the north—west. the changes are all brought out by this area of low pressure. a cold front will be bringing that cooler air in. but ahead of the front, we are going to be seeing some thundery showers. now, on saturday, we start

the day on a fine note, plenty of sunshine out and about. we will start to see some showers moving up from the south. now, initially, the rain might not be too heavy but it will come down in big drops. later in the day, as those showers become more extensive across the midlands, western england and wales, the showers will be heavy and thundery as well, temperatures reaching a peak of around 23 so you will notice that drop in temperatures and that trend will continue. through saturday evening and overnight, the showers and thunderstorms become quite extensive, our cold front swings its way eastwards across the country, introducing much cooler and fresher air so by sunday, temperatures at best into the low 20s. that's your weather. i'm nuala mcgovern with bbc world news. our top story: the former fbi director sacked by donald trump tells the bbc he'd think twice

about sharing sensitive information with the president. james comey told the bbc‘s newsnight program president trump has dangerous impulses and lacks the people to keep him in check. cuba's new president has declared that communist rule will continue. miguel diaz—canel steps in as the country's leader after six decades of castros at the helm. and you might be familiar with the african county of swaziland. well, the nation's king has declared his country will now instead be known as "the kingdom of eswatini". the announcement was made as the country celebrated 50 years of independence from british rule. the story's very popular on the bbc website. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: