this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: a night raid on the home of the ousted malaysian prime minister as he's investigated over a multibillion dollar scandal as the man he once jailed hails a "new dawn". enough of intimidation! no more! we have entered a new era. the us president remains hopeful that his summit with kim jong—un will go ahead after north korea threatens to cancel the talks. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme: taiwan's original settlers struggle to keep their language and culture alive. and prince george princess charlotte will lead the pageboys bridesmaids at the royal wedding. but it is not clear whether meghan markle‘s father will be there. it's 8am in singapore and kuala

lumpur, where police have been seen raiding the home of the man who until a week ago was the prime minister. it is at 1am in london. it is at iam in london. police have been seen reading the home of the man antil one week ago was a prime minister. the man who najib razakjo vermette three years ago was freed from prison, pardon by the king, and lined up to be prime minister himself in two years time. jonathan head is in the malaysian capital where he met with anwar ibrahim. after an extraordinary week, the defining moment — anwar ibrahim, who symbolised opposition from his jail cell, now a free man. the movement he began 20 years ago had beaten the odds and broken a 60—year—long monopoly on power in malaysia.

it all happened thanks to his reconciliation with this man, 92—year—old mahathir mohamad — once his rival, his mentor, then his jailer, and now once again ally. so was it difficult for him to make a deal with dr mahathir, which ensured his success? frankly, initially i had my misgivings. but i had seen his speeches, and had seen reports of meetings, and finally, his commitment during the campaign. some were a bit cynical in the past, thinking this is anwar 2.0. but i realised you are dealing with a different man. even as he was enjoying his first two hours of freedom, police were raiding the home of the man he defeated. former prime minister najib razak was implicated in a massive corruption scandal. how quickly the tables have turned. that night, a large crowd came out to celebrate anwar‘s release, and the renewed partnership

with the man who had once groomed him as a successor. they chanted the slogan with which he once challenged dr mahathir — "reformasi," the cause that both men now say they are committed to. and they listen to him, promising a new era of transparency and justice. well, you can still feel thejubilation here, of people who have done something they thought was impossible — using their votes to force out a government that everyone said couldn't be beaten. and today they have seen anwar ibrahim, the man who first told them that change was possible, pardoned, freed, and speaking to them here. there are lots of difficulties ahead, but it would be churlish to deny malaysians this special moment of hope. we can go live now to our correspondent jonathan head in kuala lumpur.

what did he tell you about what his next steps are? does he want to become the deputy prime minister? certainly not. he says he will not serve in a cabin at under dr mahathir. it has nothing to do with dr mahathir himself. —— cabinet. what he stressed when he was out and talking to supporters is that he was very confident in the job dr mahathir is doing. he is very happy to let him do that. they have an agreement. it is one dr mahathir has agreed to. he will hand over power to anwar ibrahim within two years. anwar ibrahim, who is looking quite tired, actually, and more tired than when i saw him going into prison, says less him govern. he says he is in no great rush to get into politics and would be happy to travel and spend time with his family. he also stressed, as far as things are going, he is very co mforta ble things are going, he is very comfortable with the processes that

have been undertaken, even in these last few days while he has still technically been incarcerated. importantly, cabinet technically been incarcerated. importa ntly, cabinet positions technically been incarcerated. importantly, cabinet positions are starting to be confirmed. he raised no objection to the secretary general of the democratic action party, the mainly chinese party, taking the finance ministry. ajob formerly controlled by najib razak. that go into a big chinese party. they are one third of the coalition in terms of seats, it is an important symbol that cabinet positions will be apportioned fairly among the coalition partners and according to merit. as far as the message we got from anwar ibrahim, he was very comfortable with how things are and not in a great rush. there was a night raid on the home of the ousted malaysian prime minister, najib razak, was there anything discovered ? minister, najib razak, was there anything discovered? the police were a p pa re ntly anything discovered? the police were apparently searching for documents and they also searched an apartment supposedly belonging to the former

prime minister. there are a lot of rumours, particularly relating to his wife's collection of extreme extensive handbags. there is a belief that the former prime minister may have put away huge amounts of wealth. it is a common belief in malaysia. there was an extraordinary cemetery watching this once all—powerful man. it was all—powerful literally until a week ago —— cemetery. now apparently com pletely ago —— cemetery. now apparently completely friendless. a huge number of police cars, they completely surrounded the main entrance, while anwar ibrahim, the man he put in prison, was going free. the investigation into the scandal, the biggest of the alleged scandals for the former prime minister is moving quickly. there is an auditor general‘s report into that which has a lwa ys general‘s report into that which has always been believed to detail the abuses and wrongdoings in those

practices. it has been declassified. it was an official secrets up until now and people are starting to pour through that and realise that even within the malaysian government there were deep misgivings about the way in which it was being handled. i expect that investigation will move quickly and prime minister najib is ina quickly and prime minister najib is in a difficult position. jonathan headin in a difficult position. jonathan head in kuala lumpur. thank you for joining us. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. a us senate panel has released documents related to thejune 2016 meeting between top trump aides and a russian delegation at trump tower. the 2,500 pages of transcripts include interviews with president trump's oldest son, donjunior, and are part of a justice department probe into possible russian meddling. anthony zurcher has more from washington. according to donald trumpjunior they did not discuss anything releva nt. they did not discuss anything relevant. the meeting, nothing came of it. that was the last anything out of it. in the transcripts you

can hear don trumpjunior being grilled. he said that if i love it oi’ grilled. he said that if i love it ori grilled. he said that if i love it or i love it if it is late in the summer, that whole thing was mostly saying thank you and nothing much else came from it. we keep the focus on washington. president trump has formally acknowledged the paid back his personal lawyer, michael go on, more than $100,000 last you. the information was in a disclosure statement which was released by the us government ethics department. the information was in a disclosure statement, released by the us office of government ethics, and doesn't say why. mr cohen has admitted paying a similar amount to the porn star stormy daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election. michigan state university has agreed to pay $500 million to gymnasts who were abused by ex—team doctor larry nassar. most of that will go to the women themselves, with $75 million dedicated to a trust fund for future plaintiffs. earlier this year, nassar was sentenced to lengthy prison terms after hundreds of female athletes testified about his decades of abuse.

facebook‘s mark zuckerberg has agreed to face european parliament members to discuss privacy concerns. the company's chief executive could be in brussels as early as next week for the closed door meeting. it follows his testimony before us congress over the leaking of users' personal data. the man behind some of the world's most famous superheroes is suing the company he co—founded for over a billion dollars. stan lee accuses pow entertainment bosses of coercing him into signing over his name and image rights when he was in a physically fragile state. the 95—year—old comic book creator came up with heroes such as spiderman and black panther. an eye for detail has helped a dutch art dealer discover this lost in 2016, jan six recognised the hand of the master in the then—unknown painting and snapped it up for a bargain at $185,000. experts then spent 18 months using x—ray techniques and analysis of paint samples to prove the portrait of a young gentleman was the real deal. rembrandts can go for tens of millions of dollars. president trump has hinted

that the much—anticipated summit between him and the north korean leader, kim jong—un, might not go ahead next month. he was speaking after the authorities in pyongyang threatened to cancel the talks if the us continued to push for an end to its nuclear weapons programme. 0ur north america editorjon sopel has more details. is it is an annual event, and each year it upsets the north — a military training manoeuvre involving 100 warplanes from the us and south korea. and last night, pyongyang engaged in their own live—fire exercise, with a threat to shoot down next month's planned summit. but, if this was provocation, donald trump was doing his best not to react. his comments in the oval office

were conspicuously muted. we haven't seen anything, we haven't heard anything. we will see what happens. though, in the hubbub, he was asked whether he was still insisting on north korea getting rid of its nuclear programme. yes, he says, but this is the thorniest issue. denuclearisation means one thing to the us, and something completely different to the north. the us national security adviser has said disarmament must be complete, verifiable and irreversible. he says it should be what colonel gaddafi did in libya. i think we're looking at the libya model of 2003—200a. we're also looking at what north korea itself has committed to previously. but look what happened to colonel gaddafi. without his weapons he had lost his insurance policy, and he was ousted from power. north korea isn't going to go down that route. and what was noticeable this morning was that the white house press secretary seemed to put quite a distance between the president

and mr bolton's libya model. i'm not aware that that's a model we're using, but i would... bolton said that over the weekend. i haven't seen that that's a specific thing. i know that comment was made, but there is not a cookie—cutter model on how this works. this is the president trump model. he's going to run this as he sees fit. donald trump has invested heavily in making the summit a success, and there is no doubt there is determination in the white house that it should go ahead. but not at any price, and there are some intractable issues that could still derail it. so will we see an even more improbable handshake moment? in seoul, on a film set, people queue to replicate it. president trump wants this to be his framed moment in history, but we're not there yet. the majority of people in taiwan are han chinese,

but the island's earliest settlers were a different group who migrated from south—eastern china to taiwan thousands of years ago. their descendants now number only half a million people and their languages and traditions are increasingly dying out. 0ur taipei correspondent cindy sui recently travelled to visit one 0ur taipei correspondent cindy sui recently travelled to visit one community which is getting government help to pay the older generation to pass on all they know. this tribe has gathered for a festival, honouring their gods and ancestral spirits. the song they are singing is one of only 20 in their language that survives. singing along is amala namashe, also known by his mandarin name. he is one of only five people, all in their 70s, who can speak the language fluently, and he is the only one who is fluent enough to teach it. translation: i feel like i am racing against time.

if we don't work hard to pass on the language to our young people, it will die out. without our language, this tribe will disappear. this year, taiwan's government will pay elders in indigenous villages like this one to teach the language of the tribes to young people. it will also pay some young people to learn the languages full—time. it is part of a multimillion—dollar programme to save taiwan's critically endangered indigenous languages. but the tribe has fewer than 400 people, and many of them study or work in the cities, because there are fewjobs in the village. many of the people here have come back just for the festival. the youngsters speak only mandarin, even this girl's grandfather. she can say her name only in this language, but struggles to say her age, even in a complete sentence. but there is hope. some young people are determined to save the language. this is one of three tribe members who has signed up for daily lessons. translation: sometimes i feel

the pressure, because the elders who can pass on the language are all up in age. if anything happens to them, that will be the end of it, outright. united in spirit, but the tribe's survival may depend on more than unity. many believe it is more important to develop the local economy, so that young people can stay, and the language can be passed on. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme:

they attended their aunt's marriage last year, now prince george and princess charlotte will once again be in the spotlight at their royal uncle's wedding. also on the programme: laurel. laurel. laurel. what are you hearing? we look at the sound experiment that's divided the internet. the pope was shot, the pope will live — that's the essence of the appalling news from rome this afternoon that, as an italian television commentator put it, terrorism had come to the vatican. the man they call the butcher of lyon, klaus barbie, went on trial today in the french town where he was the gestapo chief in the second world war. winnie mandela never looked like a woman just sentenced to six years injail. the judge told mrs mandela there was no indication she felt even the slightest remorse.

the chinese government has called for an all—out effort to help the victims of a powerful earthquake, the worst to hit the country for 30 years. the computer deep blue has tonight triumphed over the world chess champion, garry kasparov. it's the first time a machine has defeated a reigning world champion in a classical chess match. america's first legal same—sex marriages have been taking place in massachusetts. god bless america! this is newsday on the bbc. glad you're staying with us. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: malaysia's opposition leader, anwar ibrahim, is released from jail and declares a new dawn.

meanwhile, police raid the defeated prime minister's home. uncertainty over the summit. president trump says he hopes his meeting with north korea's kim jong—un will still take place. let's ta ke let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the international edition of the new york times has a story about the us pushing others to nuclear disarmament while it spends billions of dollars building factories needed to rejuvenate and expand america's nuclear capacity. this is in contrast to pulling out of the iran nuclear deal and placing demands on north korea to denuclearise. the front page of the japan times leads with the threat to the summit between us president and north korean leader kim jong—un next month. as we reported yesterday, pyongyang said it would never give up its "treasured nuclear sword" in exchange for economic assistance from america. 0n the front page of the strait times, an article states that anwar ibrahim won't serve in the malaysian cabinet for now. though he received a royal pardon from the king on tuesday morning, he has said he needs "time and space" to rest with his family, and travel abroad.

we're getting more details about the arrangements for saturday's royal wedding at windsor castle. princess charlotte and prince george will be among the six bridesmaids and four page boys. there's been no update though, on whether ms markel‘s father will attend to walk his daughter down the aisle. 0ur royal correspondent, nicholas witchell, reports. on her way to her daughter's wedding — meghan markle's mother doria ragland left her home in california for the flight to london. good luck with the wedding! conspicuously not travelling was markle's father, thomas, who, according to reports, is in hospital in mexico — possibly undergoing surgery, probably not attending the wedding. though kensington palace has still said nothing officially.

leading the page boys and bridesmaids on saturday will be prince george and princess charlotte, who played the roles at pippa middleton's wedding last year. harry and meghan will have ten young attendants — six bridesmaids and four page boys — ranging in age from two to seven. and while the leading players prepare, so too does the supporting cast. the harmlessly fixated, who attend all major royal events, have already bagged their places just outside windsor castle, to the fascination of foreign broadcasters. is this level of interest representative of the country as a whole? well, of course it's not. indeed, according to some polls, among a good many people there is, well, polite indifference to it all. but not here in windsor, a town whose identity is aligned with royalty, whose rooftops have been commandeered by international broadcasters, and from where this saturday this royal wedding, with its international twist, will be broadcast to audiences around the world. nicholas witchell,

bbc news, windsor. and we will have live coverage on the bbc. we will be live from thursday to bring you the build—up. hope you can join thursday to bring you the build—up. hope you canjoin us. every now and again a debate pops up that threatens to break the internet. remember that dress? the one where different people saw the same dress but in different colours? well, we have a new one. it's not about colours but sound. there's a huge debate about a clip of audio and whether you hear " lau rel" or "yanny." let's hear it. laurel. laurel. laurel. what do you hear? i spoke to

and professor of psychology at the university of california. —— a professor. the frequency of our brains are just perfect but it says there are actually two sets of information in the sound, one that is informative about laurel, one that is informative about yanny and it can be heard in different ways depending on 1's background or rage probably, depending on the sound system you are listening over, all those things can come into play. how different the two sounds are as interesting and as much as i've been discussing this with people, very few people can hear it one way and then another. they are stuck on one way and one way only. if you want to hear more, go to our

website. i hear laurel. you can also download the bbc news app. not this again. the national air and space museum in washington dc has been open for over 70 years and is one of the nation's most popular attractions. eight million people visit every year. now, for the first time, its director is a woman. ellen stofan is a former nasa scientist who spent her career studying planets. the bbc‘s jane 0'brien went to visit her at the museum. thank you for having us here, ellen stofa n. thank you for having us here, ellen stofan. after 25 years in nasa, what made you decide to become the director of this museum? here at the smithsonian national air and space museum, we have the largest collection of aviation and space a rtefa cts collection of aviation and space artefacts in the world. what better place to get the next generation of

explorers interested in science, technology, and matt. you are the first woman to become the director of this museum. why is it women are still so underrepresented in the space industry? you have to attack all issues of the pipeline. from young women in school who get disinterested in science because they are not encouraged, sometimes harassed. how do we attack this problem at every level to make sure women are made to feel welcome? you have always focused on mars. what is so special about mars?|j have always focused on mars. what is so special about mars? i think mine is conspiring. —— mars. i am keen to get humans to mars. we think that at the same time life evolved on earth, life also evolved on mars. perhaps

it migrated underground or went extinct. it will be hard to find. i think you need people on the surface breaking open roxanne is doing what scientists do to notjust find evidence of life, but find out the implications of life on another world. —— rocks and doing. you have been watching newsday. and let's leave you with pictures some pictures of this three—week—old aardvark, which has made its public debut at prague zoo. zookeepers say the baby is flourishing, now weighing four kilogrammes. they are yet to establish what gender it is. but it's very happy indeed. the weather for the rest of the week and the weekend really

is looking very promising. as far as the short term is concerned, really chilly this morning. we've had clear skies, so the temperatures have dipped away and in fact in some areas to barely above freezing. there's been quite a big gap in the cloud across the uk. you can see scotland, northern ireland and northern england so here, the lowest temperatures. you can see those cool colours here from scotland through the lake districtjust about into wales and northern ireland. in the south, slightly less cold. around 8—10 degrees. newcastle, first thing in the morning, possibly around two degrees above freezing but lots of sunshine on offer and it will not change through the morning of the afternoon apart from a bit of fair weather cloud building up. that's pretty much it. the temperatures not spectacularly high because it would have been at chilly morning. around 18 in london, 13 in newcastle, maybe 15 degrees in belfast and thursday evening is looking absolutely fine across the uk. a beautiful end to the day is forecast. let's look at friday's weather forecast. lots of fine weather around but the weather will go downhill a little bit, at least for a time across western scotland, possibly some spots of rain as well but for the bulk of the country

on friday, it's looking fine. maybe 19 in london, 16 in newcastle. then the important weather forecast for the weekend, high pressure anchors itself across the uk. the weather fronts are not too far away, just to the west of our neighbourhood but they will stay, can't move in any closer, because of that area of high pressure keeping the fronts at bay, the winds will be coming in from the south, dragging in warmerair, and the weather looks absolutely perfect in windsor on saturday, starting at a fresh 9 or 10 degrees and warming up to the low 20s by the time we get to the afternoon. and it promises to be a fine day across the whole of the country on saturday, light winds as well, lots of sunshine around, maybe just a bit of fair weather cloud again, and 20 degrees in cardiff, 20 there in liverpool. eastern scotland also getting temperatures in the high teens as well. now, the weather does change a little bit in the north—west on sunday. a weather front moves in so there is some rain in the forecast for belfast, for glasgow, maybe getting into edinburgh as well. but for england and wales, the weather should hold and, again, another fine day on the way on sunday.

so many parts of england and wales having a dry weekend all the way through. how about early next week? looks like the warm weather is going to win. we'll start to draw in warmth once again from europe and the temperatures will keep on climbing. bye— bye. i'm kasia madera with bbc world news. our top story: a reversal of fortunes for malaysia's political leaders as anwar ibrahim is released from prison. the former opposition leader proclaims a "new dawn" for malaysia. at the same time, police raid the home of the defeated prime minister as they investigate his multi—billion dollar investment fund. uncertainty surrounds the summit between the us president and the north korean leader as pyongyang threatens to cancel the talks. but donald trump says he remains hopeful.

and this story is trending on bbc.com. so, what are you hearing? is it laurel or yanny? the internet is divided. apparently, it's all a matter of which frequency you hear. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: the east coast mainline is to be taken back into public control