i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: the date isjune 12th. the venue is singapore. the first ever summit between a north korean and us leader puts the lion city at the crossroads of history. as 92—year—old mahathir mohamad is sworn in as malaysia's prime minister, the country's youth give their verdict. he's like the godfather! you will do whatever it takes to get whatever he wants. i guess age doesn't matter too much, i'm just more worried about his track record. i'm lebo diseko in london. also in the programme: the mountains of abandoned metal and rubber springing up across china as commuters switch to bike sharing apps. eurovision song contest fever spreads across the world as this weekend's grand finale approaches, and asia's getting in on the act later this year.

live from our studios in singapore and london. this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's midnight in london, 7pm in washington and 7am here in singapore, where president trump will meet kim jong—un next month. it will be the first time an american president has met a leader of north korea. mr trump made the announcement on twitter, confirming that the summit will take place on june the 12th. the news came just hours after three americans released by north korea arrived back on us soil. mr trump said he hoped the meeting would be a very special moment for world peace. nick bryant reports form washington. in the middle of the night, before the birds or the president

had started tweeting, the plane carrying the freed prisoners touched down on american soil. from the trauma of detention to a triumphant welcome from donald trump, he didn't want to miss this dramatic homecoming, for offers flesh and blood proof that his unconventional approach to diplomacy is working. my proudest achievement will be, and this is a part of it, but will be when we denuclearise that entire peninsula. this is what people have been waiting for for a long time. nobody thought we could be on this track in terms of speed, so i'm very honoured to have helped the three folks. this was a made—for—television moment, but the white house quickly turned it into cinema. slow motion footage, rowsing hollywood—style music. the former reality tv star claimed this must have set the all—time record for ratings at 3am in the morning. north korean state broadcaster

didn't show that kind of panache, but these are remarkable pictures, nonetheless. kim jong—un meeting the new us secretary of state mike pompeo in pyongyang. the leader mocked as little rocket man, enjoying a lighter moment with the americans, ahead of his summit with mr trump. vice president mike pence has been talking about us expectations. the president senses an opening that may result in a historic agreement. what kim jong—un has said, publicly, and in discussions, is that he is prepared to negotiate to achieve complete denuclearisation of the korean peninsula. so the north korean leader's security team will soon be pacing the streets of singapore, the venue for the summit. but has enough diplomatic legwork been done to make it a success? ina week

in a week where donald trump withdrew from a nuclear deal with iran, it's full steam ahead with negotiating a new nuclear deal with north korea. and having alienate it his closest european allies, his administration is forging an improbable relationship with one of them are cut‘s long—standing enemies. nick bryant, bbc news, washington. —— one of america's. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. israel's defended its air strikes against iranian targets in syria. prime minister benjamin netanyahu says tehran has crossed a red line. this is israel's biggest assault since the start of the war there. it was in response to rocket attacks on the israeli—occupied golan heights. iran's president says he does not want new tensions in the middle east, but the us accuses his country of provoking the escalation. here's what mr netanyahu had to say. translation: iran prostate red line.

we responded accordingly —— crossed a. the idf carried out a large—scale attack against iranian targets in syria. thanks to the proper deployment of our forces, both in the attack and the defence, the iranian action failed. no rocket landed in israeli territory. also making news today: a ioa—year—old scientist who travelled from australia to switzerland to try and get an assisted suicide has died. david goodall ended his life by taking a lethal injection at a swiss clinic. he wasn't terminally ill, but said his quality of life had deteriorated significantly and he wanted to die. attackers armed with guns and knives have killed an imam a mosque in south africa. three men went into the building and stabbed the imam and left two worshippers critically injured. the men are said to have escaped in a car after setting fire

to the mosque. their motive is still not clear. at least 47 people have died with hundreds more left homeless after a private dam in kenya burst in the middle of the night. rivers of mud and debris flooded nearby homes, sweeping entire villages away. weeks of heavy rain had put the dam in the north west of the country under huge pressure. the music streaming service, spotify, says it will no longer actively promote songs by the r&b artist r kelly, who's been accused of sexual abuse against young women and underage girls. users will still be able to find his music on the service. r kelly denies the allegations, and has not been charged. i want to show you these pictures, because this dusty, dry expanse used to be a large body of water. this is the aculeo lagoon in chile, just south of the capital, santiago, or it used to be. the 12 square kilometre lake has completely dried up. something that has

never happened before. the reason? local experts say drought conditions are to blame, but also the over—consumption of water. he may be 92 years old, but mahathir mohamad is a man in a hurry. the veteran politician has become malaysia's prime minister again after his party's shock election victory 15 years after he stood down. the result ended more than six decades of rule by the coalition, which included mr mahathir‘s former party. we asked the country's youth what they made of him. he's like the godfather! he will do whatever it takes to get whatever he wants. i guess age doesn't matter too much, i'm just more worried about his track record. laughter

it really is time for change and for a lot of us in the younger generation, we want our voice to be heard. now is the time for something different. we don't know, it might be bad, it might be good, but most importantly it would be different. he didn't manage to bring those from the ruling coalition into the cause. there's very little personal agenda i feel. he has there's very little personal agenda ifeel. he has to prove. there's very little personal agenda i feel. he has to prove. i think his squad, in terms of his team, is very very young and is very vibrant. obviously change will not be

immediate, it's going to take time but this is the first step towards that direction. young malaysians on what they think of mahathir mohamad. i have been speaking to ei sun oh, former political secretary to ex prime minister najib razak about the transition of power. there was a little bit of a hiccup throughout yesterday. first of all, the results of the election led to a delay of quite a number of hours, then the swearing in of the new and also former prime minister, mahathir mohamad, that was almost delayed for a whole day. by night time he was formally sworn in as the new prime minister. so it was number one a very peaceful transition, and number two, very historic one because malaysia sort of transition from essentially a i—party state to nowadays... well, i hope it's the

dawn of a multipart —— multi—party democracy. as a malaysian yourself, your happy about this transition, but how will this barely disparate coalition, essentially led by their desire to oust najib razak, and julie worked together once governing starts 7 julie worked together once governing starts? -- actually. this coalition has worked together in opposition for a number of years by now —— this government. the way they reached this decision is perhaps what nowadays a lot of malaysian is would like to see how decisions are made, namely by way of reaching consensus but each party holding on to the principles —— malaysians. this is as opposed to the former regime, led by the leading party, which is essentially making decisions for all the other component parties. we know mahathir already hinted at it

yesterday when he was sworn in that there would be an investigation to recover some of those misappropriated funds from the state fund imdb, the scandal that rocked najib razak‘s leadership, how do you think they will treat mr najeen and his high spending life? just as doctor mahathir suggested, he will be subject to the course ofjustice and the rule of law and so on. now he is no longer the prime minister he is no longer the prime minister he will not enjoy a certain amount of immunity. domestic investigations into imdb will proceed, but also the investigations from international jurisdictions, the united states, switzerland and so on, they will also go for a head. isola of speaking to me earlier. ——

ei sun oh. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: as donald trump welcomes home three american prisoners of north korea and prepares to meet kimjong—un in singapore next month, we assess the mood in the south korea. i, nelson rolihlahla mandela, do hereby swear to be faithful to the republic of south africa. after six years of construction and numerous delays, the channel tunnel has been formally opened by the queen and president mitterrand. but the tunnel is still not yet ready for passengers and freight services to begin. for centuries, christianity and islam struggled for supremacy. now, the pope's visit symbolises their willingness to coexist. roger bannister became the first man in the world to run a mile in underfour minutes. memories of victory, as the ve celebrations reach their climax. this night is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom. this is newsday on the bbc.

i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm lebo diseko in london. our top stories: us president donald trump will meet the north korean leader, kim jong—un, for historic talks in singapore onjune the 12th. the veteran politician, mahathir mohamad, has been sworn in as malaysia's prime minister after his party's shock victory in wednesday's election. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. we begin with the straits times, which unsurprisingly leads with the swearing in of malaysia's new prime minister. the paper focusses on mahathir mohamad's promise that his government will be business friendly. the south china morning post has some good news for villagers

in hong kong's northern new territories. it says hk$550 million will be made available to those being forced to leave their homes to make way for new town developments. and finally, the international edition of the new york times has some cheeky news from paris. the palais de tokyo is hosting a special tour where visitors wear nothing except shoes. it's the first of its kind in france and has proven popular, with 30,000 people registering an interest. now, what stories are sparking discussions online? well, it's donald trump trending today — nothing unusual there — but this time he might have finally gone too far. the us president has banned the sale of irn—bru at his scottish golf resort in turnberry because it might stain the clubhouse carpet orange. the soft drink is extremely orange

and extremely popular in the country where it's referred to as scotland's other national drink — and the scots are furious. returning to our top story. donald trump and kim jong—un will meet in singapore onjune the 12th for a historic summit — the first time leaders of the united states and north korea have met. our correspondent stephen mcdonell is in seoul. they are meeting, but how is it going to be worked out? they are calling for complete and verifiable denuclearisation. they don't even have the warheads the north koreans might have, imagine there are dozens, they are buried deep inside mountains. this will take years,

evenif mountains. this will take years, even if the north koreans agree to it, starting to dismantle. is the trump administration really going to go ahead and say, we are not going to ease off that sanctions press one little bit until you have fully competed —— completed the task? that is not going to fly with the north koreans. they are going to want some sort of easing up on the sanctions. starting with denuclearisation. there are headaches galore. undoubtedly headaches galore and undoubtably a busy time for us in the singapore bureau when this meeting takes place onjune i2 the singapore bureau when this meeting takes place onjune 12 but we know that other locations have been considered, mongolia, even though demilitarised zone so why singapore? i always thought singapore? i always thought singapore was excellent. because

donald trump and kim jong—un, singapore was excellent. because donald trump and kimjong—un, they have to sit down and have a meeting. but really, the details of what i was talking about, that has to be worked out by teams from both countries. you possibly need delegations, representatives also from china, and south korea. where are these people going to go? meeting rooms set up. in singapore, they will lock down a hole 5—star hotel and get to the discussions weeks in advance. when those two leaders arrive, there is something for them to sign an something to agree on, even if it goes the other way round, they first had their meeting. they leave it to their delegations to work out the details. you need facilities to do that. the humble bicycle has been a mainstay of china's city streets for decades. but in the past few months,

giant mountains of discarded frames have been cropping up around the country. that's because authorities have been impounding thousands upon thousands of rental bicycles that, they say, are clogging the streets. here's our beijing correspondentjohn sudworth. it could be mistaken for a field of flowers. but look closer. thousands upon thousands of bikes, impounded in the city of wuhan. bike—sharing has taken china by storm. unlocked with a wave of a phone, they can be hired, or off—hired, anywhere. but the innovative technology has brought with it a frenzy of speculation. chinese cities have been deluged with bikes, millions of them. backed with huge investment, dozens of companies have been

fighting for market share, resulting in blocked pavements... and a random sprinkling of abandoned bikes almost everywhere you look. in some cities, the authorities have had enough. the extraordinary thing is that many of these bikes are brand—new, hardly used at all. forget stock—market bubbles and property bubbles, forget the dotcom bubble. this is one with wheels on. this is china's bike—sharing bubble. photos of other bike mountains have been propping up online. here is one in the city of xiamen, and this is shanghai. yes, those really are bikes down there. but the reality is, china faces a far bigger transport challenge — traffic congestion, chronic

pollution and a growing health crisis. and it's notjust bikes that block pavements. the bike companies now plan to use the huge amounts of data they collect to monitor rider behaviour and penalise bad parking, and they insist chinese cities still need them. there needs to be a framework to regulate the growth of the industry, but from a general point of view, taking a step back, cities want this kind of commuting method, because it reduces pollution, reduces congestion, it puts people back on their bicycles. but it's also our responsibility as the leader in the industry to provide this with a thoughtful and responsible approach. as the chinese bike—sharing schemes arrive in more british cities, lessons, they say, will have been learned. later this year, asia is to get its own singing competition based on the legendary eurovision song contest. it's renowned for producing the best

and also the bizarre, and a has following all around the world. this year's final is taking place in portugal on saturday night. but there is a country in the region that's been taking part for the past few years. australia joined the fun in 2015, and they've just qualified for the final in the past few hours. earlier, i spoke to the man who'll be announcing the results of their voting on saturday, ricardo goncalves. australia is genuinely eurovision mad. the host broadcaster, sbs, has been broadcasting the competition for more than 30 years in australia and originally it was to make a connection with all the migrants who came to australia from all over the world, especially europe, australia is very multicultural but over the past few years, it's gained in popularity and all of australia is

behind the competition, notjust the colour and the glamour but also the music so that is where the connection comes from and because the eurovision song contest is all about music, diversity and inclusion, what better way to include not just inclusion, what better way to include notjust your but inclusion, what better way to include not just your but the inclusion, what better way to include notjust your but the rest of the world are having australia ta ke of the world are having australia take part? what is the australian entry like? it's jessica mauboy, her song is called we got love, it's a big song about inclusion and sharing love with the world so it's very topical in this day and age and she really performed the song quite well this morning, only about 2.5 hours so this morning, only about 2.5 hours so “— this morning, only about 2.5 hours so —— ago on the stage in lisbon and we pleased to say she made it to the final which will be broadcast over the world and here in australia on sunday morning on sbs. eurovision has got the history of some quite interesting songs. why do you think it still endures, there is this

magic about it and people love it? it comes back down to that diversity and inclusion theme, i think. it comes back down to that diversity and inclusion theme, ithink. there is all this colour, all this spectacle but also you have some great music behind it. some artists are remembered for ever and back to that australian connection as well, just because we have been in the competition for the past three years officially, without artists involved over the past decade. olivia newton—john was a competitor representing the uk in 1974, we also had an artist called gina g who perform to the uk in the mid— 90s and the next talent show winner from australia anja nissen, performed the denmark a few years ago. you are backing the australian entry, but if there are any countries you think might be in with a chance, who would they be? i do have a portuguese background, my family migrated from

madeira, and i'm not saying the portuguese contender should win because as the australian eurovision spokesperson, it would be unfair to influence the australian vote in any way but i wishjessica mauboy all the very best. we just want to show you some live pictures. that is mike pence at the podium, but we are expecting donald trump to make an appearance fairly soon. trump to make an appearance fairly soon. this is a campaign rally ahead of the mid—term elections so they will be talking about some domestic stuff and we will be watching for any comments on the international things that have been occupying donald trump's mind, the upcoming north korea summit, any reaction to the iran situation. i know you are likely to be watching this very closely, sharanjit, likely to be watching this very closely, shara njit, with likely to be watching this very closely, sharanjit, with the upcoming visit. yes, that is right, lebo, the date,

june 12 has been set for the historic meeting between donald trump and kimjong—un and it's historic meeting between donald trump and kim jong—un and it's right here in singapore so undoubtedly a very busy time for our bureau. we will bring you all the latest on that and coming up, more stories. we will be taking a look at the controversial r&b artist r kelly and why he has been scratched from spotify. and before we go, let's take a look at these pictures. ecuador‘s national police service has held a special ceremony to mark the retirement of 61 police dogs. they had all reached dog retirement age of nine years. most of them will be staying with their human police partners as pets. the others will go to individuals and families from around ecuador to live out their golden years. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. fellow once again. let's bring you

right up—to—date with how we see the next couple of days across the british isles and there is some uncertainty about how the weekend is exactly going to shape up. thursday was a very pleasant day indeed, came toa was a very pleasant day indeed, came to a glorious end of the many parts, was a glorious day, plenty of sunshine on offer. hope you made the most of it, especially if you are intending to spend friday across the western side of the british isles because looming not far over the horizon is another set of weather fronts. notice how those isobars tighten up and that stronger wind will be there that we had across parts of scotland and indeed northern ireland as well. not a bad start today across central and eastern parts, quite chilly one. some of the overnight temperatures, one, two, three degrees, something of that order. a buy to not start with the sunshine coming through. that would be the case out towards the west but in the middle of the

afternoon, the first signs of the thicker cloud producing rain across the western isles and the western fringes of the mainland. the rain all over northern ireland, some of it really quite heavy at times and the rain becoming more of a present threat there across the western and southern parts of wales to the south—west of england. it's a dry day to the most part across central and eastern parts. you won't get to see that rain until late on in the night if you see it at all, it will be confined to the northern half of the british isles. the banner of cloud hoping to keep the temperature up cloud hoping to keep the temperature up much higher than will have been the case from thursday on into friday. so this is the weekend. low pressure not 1 friday. so this is the weekend. low pressure not1 million miles away, will continue to sink its way towards the south—western approaches. it front to the east thatis approaches. it front to the east that is causing the forecasting headaches at the moment and it looks as though having been a rather weak affair, it may well pep up from the south—east in the rain becoming really rather stuck over scotland.

some of that is really open to a good deal of uncertaintyjust at some of that is really open to a good deal of uncertainty just at the moment. we think there will be a peppering of showers across some eastern spots and then a great dry swathe as you come back towards that area of low pressure, throwing some showers into parts of wales and the south—west, the odd one getting into northern ireland as well. here is saturday night on into sunday, it may be the heavier parts of rain work their way up to the south—eastern quarter and run along the line of the front and it may well become the dominant feature across a good pass of scotland as we get into the latter part of sunday the dry swathe and we get back to that raft of showers across the south—west. i'm lebo diseko with bbc world news. we can take you to indiana, where donald trump is going to speak at a

rally. cheering we are making india proud, we are making america proud. we are rocking it! we are rocking it! so i'm thrilled to be here tonight with the incredible hard—working patriots of the hoozier state. and i don't know if you see what's going on outside, but you have a lot of people outside that want to get in but they're not getting in because this place is packed! this place is packed. this is truly an exciting time for our country. jobs are