this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: public anger grows after the revelations that one of china's major pharmaceutical firms has been selling sub—standard vaccines. trends that we have been let down again and again, from milk powder to food safety, to this vaccine, it is all on safe. the uk government sparks a political row, saying it won't object to the execution of two islamic state suspects if they're convicted in america. i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: we report on how victims of natural disasters in south east asia face a rise in sexual and gender based violence. and extreme weather is taking it's toll in australia's new south wales. 99% of new south wales is either in drought, drought onset or on drought watch. live from our studios in singapore

and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 8:00am in singapore, midnight in london and 8:00am in beijing, where chinese officials have a battle on their hands to control public anger after the revelations that one of the country's major pharmaceutical firms has been selling sub—standard vaccines. stocks in chinese medicine and biotech companies have tumbled. worried parents are rushing to hospitals to see if their children's vaccinations are valid. it is just the latest in a string of food ands drug scandals in china. here's stephen mcdonell in beijing china is in the midst of yet another scandal over medicine quality. this

timea scandal over medicine quality. this time a mass recall of vaccines. a major drug company has been ordered to halt production on certain lines after it was caught falsifying records and the government is struggling to reassure parents that their children are safe. translation: it hasn't been that long since the last incident like this. you seagate clearly don't work. we have been let down again and again from milk powder to food safety to this vaccine scandal, it is all unsafe. if this hadn't been in the press we would never have found out how poor the inspections are. biotechnology was first ordered to stop making a rabies vaccine. the state drug administration then said the 250,000 doses of a diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus vaccine that it had sold were also substandard. the drug administration is preparing a criminal prosecution.

translation: we discovered that the company forged production and inspection records. these actions area inspection records. these actions are a serious violation of the law. the big chinese press is reporting on the vaccine quality meltdown but articles on social media saying officials are too soft on the drug companies are being censored. meanwhile, families are worried. perhaps not surprisingly, chinese pa rents a re perhaps not surprisingly, chinese parents are fighting to hospitals like this one to make sure their children are ok. although for the moment, at least, it seems like nobody has actually become ill as a result of taking these inferior vaccines. they want to know right now is my child is covered for the likes of whooping cough or tetanus, and they are asking for copies of their vaccination records so they can check for themselves. and the company involved has now issued a statement. this is all a long way from china

becoming a reliable global exporter of safe vaccines. our other top story this hour: temperatures injapan have soared to a record high of 41.1 degrees celsius and at least 15 people have died from the heatwave. the country's disaster management agency is urging people to stay in air—conditioned spaces, drink water and rest to prevent heat exhaustion. and we'll be looking at why so many of us are experiencing such extreme weather a bit later in the programme. also this hour: ballot boxes are being dispatched to polling stations across pakistan ahead of wednesday's general election. there are nearly 4,000 candidates, only 171 of whom are women. they are contesting over 272 national assembly seats. polls will open in a few hours when more than 105 million people are eligible to vote. in the coming hours,

the philippines‘ supreme court is due to begin hearing arguments challenging the country's withdrawl from the international criminal court. earlier this year, president rodrigo duterte said he is pulling the country out of the icc, after a prosecutor for the court announced that a preliminary enquiry was underway into mr duterte's so—called war on drugs. it comes a day after the president vowed to maintain his drugs policy, despite widespread international criticism. howard johnson has more from manila. ina wide—ranging in a wide—ranging speech that was around an hour—long he covered topics like inflation. he said that unscrupulous businessmen had used his recent tax reform package to artificially put up prices. the philippines is currently suffering its highest inflation rate in five yea rs. its highest inflation rate in five years. he also talk about authoritarianism. he said that he would not stay in power for a authoritarianism. he said that he would not stay in powerfor a day longer than he was democratically

elected too. and he spoke about the war on drugs. he said that this campaign is farfrom over and that it would continue as unrelenting and chilling as the day it had begun. and turning to his critics, he said your concern is human rights, mine is human lives. the audience applauded. five days after being released from hospital, 11 of the 12 boys and their football coach who were trapped in a thai cave are preparing to enter a monastery for a short period. in the coming hours, they are due to undergo head shaving and a washing ceremony before entering the retreat. the process is undertaken by bhuddists who have experienced a traumatic event. one of the boys who is a christian won't be taking part. the international court ofjustice has ordered the united arab emirates to protect the rights of qataris. the uae was one of several gulf states that last year imposed a blockade on qatar, accusing it of supporting jihadi groups and being too close to iran. the court's ruled that the emirates must allow families separated by the dispute to reunite and allow qatari students there to complete their education. experts attending the 22nd international aids conference

are warning that new hiv infections are surging in eastern europe and central asia. they are blaming strict drug laws that lead to needle sharing. the duke of sussex, prince harry, will be speaking alongside sir eltonjohn at the five—day event in amsterdam. new research in indonesia, laos and the philippines shows that the risk of sexual and gender based violence rises after disasters. the red cross report looking at the three south—east asian countries found that risks include sexual harrassement and assualt, child marriage, domestic violence and trafficking. dr priyanka bhalla is the project lead and primary author of this report. she's also a sexual— and gender—based violence advisor. i asked her why the risks increase after disasters. there are a couple of factors that

are very specific to both disasters and emergencies that make the risks arise. 0ne and emergencies that make the risks arise. one is that there has been a breakdown in services, such as health, legal, psychosocial and security services that are functioning in normal times. there isa functioning in normal times. there is a rising economic hardship because a lot of people lose their homes and livelihoods. finally, you also have a lot of bad shelter design, where you don't have safe spaces and separate spaces for women and men, you don't have separate toilets and there tends to be a lack of lighting. finally, you also have a lack of co—ordination by disaster responders themselves which often results in all—male camp management committees as well as not having strong enough protection mechanisms amongst the individuals who are responding to these disasters. and also, sometimes humanitarian workers

themselves are the perpetrators and that can cause rise to the risk of sexual and gender based violence after disasters. this report is indeed very disturbing and, looking further into your report, doctor, we also often hear of sexual violence on women and girls. your report also mentions violence against men and boys. how are they affected? you're, so, rico, this is an interesting fa ct, so, rico, this is an interesting fact, you know. women and girls are disproportionately affected by social and gender based violence, but men and boys are affected too. and we have some very revealing data in our report. some examples are that, for example, in laos, 29% of men and boys felt distressed by the rise of domestic violence that happened after the disaster. and, in addition to that, we spoke with married couples, couples in relationships, about the kind of

violence that they faced six months following the disaster. and what we found is... let me ask this final question, can this report, and your research, make a difference, at the government or policy level? yes, absolutely, rico, it can very much make a difference. at the national level, it can make a difference, because we need to have strong disaster or frameworks to integrate the results of this research into that. at the province level, it can make a difference. it can really strengthen the work of the different sectors are doing together with each other, the local government units. and it can really have an impact at the village level, affecting the needs of survivors themselves and the types of services that they receive right after a disaster. going to bring you some breaking news from our correspondent in seoul, laura bicker, coming from north korea, that appears to have started to dismantle part of a key rocket launching site. we understand

that satellite images of the station in the north—west of the country, seen by the monitoring group, 38, suggest kim jong—un may seen by the monitoring group, 38, suggest kimjong—un may be fulfilling a promise made to president trump at the singapore summit last month. north korea has a lwa ys summit last month. north korea has always said the site was used to launch satellites for the space programme and that america has a lwa ys programme and that america has always suspected it was used to test ballistic missile. this information commissioner us and we understand they are dismantling part of the key rocket launch —— this information coming to us and we understand they are dismantling part of the key rocket launch and we hope to speak with laura bicker in seoul in the next edition of newsday, so stay with us for that. the uk has dropped its demand for assurances that two men from london won't face the death penalty if they are sent for trial in america. the men are accused of being part of an islamic state group cell which murdered western hostages. they were captured in syria injanuary and have been stripped of their british citizenship. 0ur security correspondent frank gardner reports on the case that has sparked controversy.

the four british jihadists, nicknamed the beatles, accused of beheading western and other hostages in 2014. alexanda kotey, el shafee elsheikh, ian davies and mohammed emwazi, dubbed jihadi john by the media. he was killed in a drone strike in 2015. davies is in prison in turkey. kotey and elsheikh were captured by syrian kurdish forces injanuary and are still being held. now britain has dropped its usual insistence that they would not face the death penalty if convicted in a us court. the american video journalist james foley was one of their alleged victims. today his mother spoke out against any possible death sentence. i think that would just make them martyrs in their twisted ideology. i would like them held accountable by being sent to prison for the rest of their lives. but the government has come under

pressure to explain what appears to be an about—face on its universal opposition to the death penalty. it's the long—standing policy of the uk to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances, as a matter of principle. yet in this case, the home secretary seems to have unilaterally ripped up those principles on a friday afternoon in summer. the decision was taken some weeks ago by senior cabinet ministers. today it was left to the security minister to defend it. in this instance, and after carefully considered advice, the government took the rare decision not to require assurances in this case, and it would be inappropriate to comment further on that specific case. campaigners against the death penalty say this sets a dangerous precedent. if we are to go abandoning that commitment and saying that, "oh, well, in some circumstances, we don't really fully oppose it," i think that undermines everything that we are setting out to do

when we say that we believe in fair trial and the rule of law. but what if the us wants to send the pair to guantanamo bay? if that happens, says the government, then it would withhold key intelligence on the two suspects. it wants to see that facility closed. where and how these two eventually face trial is of paramount interest to the relatives of their alleged victims. they want to see them held accountable in court for some of the most hideous crimes they're alleged to have committed. frank gardner, bbc news. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the heat is rising. why the hot weather is soaring across the planet. also on the programme: rare pieces of disneyland history are up for auction in tinseltown. 0k, coming down the ladder now.

that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. a catastrophic engine fire is being blamed tonight for the first crash in the 30—year history of concorde, the world's only supersonic airliner. it was one of the most vivid symbols of the violence and hatred that tore apart the state of yugoslavia. but now, a decade later, it's been painstakingly rebuilt, and opens again today. there's been a 50% decrease in sperm quantity, and an increase in malfunctioning sperm, unable to swim properly. thousands of households across the country are suspiciously quiet this lunchtime, as children bury their noses in the final instalment of harry potter. this is newsday on the bbc.

i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm babita sharma in london. our top stories: public anger in china grows over a scandal about vaccine quality that's engulfed one of the country's big pharmaceutical companies. the uk government sparks a political row saying it won't object to the execution of two islamic state suspects if they're convicted in america. this footage on our website is doing well on bbc.com. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the south china morning post has more on the vaccine scandal. it reports president xi jinping, who's on a trip to africa,

has promised to clean up the industry. the paper says parents are considering taking their children to hong kong to be vaccinated, prompting fears that the city would run out of supplies. the gulf news has more on donald trump's tweet that threatens iran with war unless it changes its ways. it reports analysts are worried the escalting rhetoric on both sides has brought the two countries to the brink of war. the japan times reports on the meeting of g20 finance ministers saying that trade tensions posed an increased threat to global economic growth. but the paper says the meeting in buenos aires ended without concrete steps to prevent the spread of protectionism. as we heard earlier in the programme, extreme weather is having a real inpact and in australia a severe drought is continuing to devastate many areas,

with rivers still running dry in the middle of winter. 2018 has brought some of the warmest and driest conditions for decades, and charities have had to send aid to help farmers and rural communities. new south wales is one of the worst hit states, from where hywel griffith has sent this report. they are calling it the big drive. australia may be used to extreme heat and sunba ked australia may be used to extreme heat and sunbaked soil but the shortage of rain this year has made conditions unbearable. john wharton is the fifth generation of his family to farm here in the hunter valley but for two years, he has been living in drought. this is the mighty page river. you could see down the bank, there would be all water there. they have had to sell half of their cattle, others have perished. the money to buy feed has

dried up as well. we don't know when it is going to break, it might break next month or next year and if it brea ks next month or next year and if it breaks next year, i won't be here probably but i don't know, my father is 85 going on 86 and he reckons this is the worst drought ever. after getting down to his last bale of hay, john has been given a helping hand. people have donated money to send farmers aid. the hague shortage means this load had to travel 100 kilometres. most shortage means this load had to travel100 kilometres. most areas have not had rain for the last 18 months so that is not only causing a challenge forfarmers is months so that is not only causing a challenge for farmers is also causing challenges for the local communities. the local general store doesn't sell as much as they used to, tourism businesses are closing down, so it starts to have a ripple effect. the state government has doubled its drought relief budget but even it can't make it rain. these riverbeds should be the veins of the valley but now even in the middle of winter, they'll stone dry.

99% of new south wales is either in drought, drought onset or on drought watch. and it's not the only state. parts of queensland are now in our sixth year of drought. it's taken a toll not just sixth year of drought. it's taken a toll notjust on the rule economies but on human resilience, but with some farmers taking their own lives. a lot of these places have been in families forfive, a lot of these places have been in families for five, six generations so on families for five, six generations so on top of the issues around the depression of not being able to keep yourfun going, depression of not being able to keep your fun going, people take that on is theirfault. your fun going, people take that on is their fault. they have failed somehow. that leads two enormous amounts of depression. they helped john has received means he can make it through the month. what happens then depends on what falls from the sky. so why is this weather — from drought there in australia, to extreme heatwaves across europe, as well as japan and south korea — so severe? and is it a sign of things to come? 0ur science editor david shukman examines what's going on and begins with the heatwave

conditions right here in the uk. serious heat waves came in 1976. parts of the uk were above 32 celsius. we haven't seen that this year so far. and back in 1969, a d raft year so far. and back in 1969, a draft was so intense that one part of east anglia had hardly any rain for 70 days. we are approaching that now but we are not there yet. what is striking is multiple heat waves are happening at the same time. this is finland where heat is great for holidaymakers while sweden is battling forest fires, even in the far north of the arctic, temperatures thereafter are higher than normal and firefighters are

having to call for help. so what's behind all this? well the key, as ever, is the jet stream. the flow of high altitude air that governs our weather. often in summer it has a rather gentle wave, meaning we tend to get cooler conditions. but this year it is meandering in great loops. and we have ended up to the south of that which means we are getting hotter weather. add to that the sea temperatures of the atlantic, they are similar to what we've seen in previous waves. and on top of everything, there's climate change. the warming of the atmosphere making heatwaves more likely. what we are seeing is, the sort of temperatures we are seeing now, could potentially become the norm in only 30 to you —— 30 years' time also if we keep on emitting greenhouse gases. it's important to stay the trajectory of the future climate depends on whether my kind continues to increase emissions there it is possible to reduce those emissions. in japan, the there it is possible to reduce those emissions. injapan, the past there it is possible to reduce those emissions. in japan, the past few days have set new records for

temperature. engineers are checking buckled rail tracks. the governor of tokyo says it is like living in a sauna. ina tokyo says it is like living in a sauna. in a traditional ceremony, people try to cool the streets amid real concerns about japan hosting the olympic games at this time of yearin the olympic games at this time of year in 2020. disney fans will have the chance to own rare pieces of disneyland history, with a hollywood agent who is about to sell off his huge collection of theme park memorabilia. and they're so precious — some items are expected to fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars. tiffany wertheimer reports. disneyland. it's described as the happiest place on earth and now, from the world's most famous theme park to your home, all this could be yours. 750 disney items are going under the hammer. hollywood agent

and have a disney collector richard craft is selling off his theme park vehicles, props and artefacts. they spend six decades of disneyland history. we have dumbo hanging in the living room of our house. £800 of elephant suspended over people's heads. mr craft began his collection 25 years ago. he also owns a disneyland creek ticket booth, original drawings, concept sketches and posters from the park and they are expected to fetch a lot of money. this particular auction is full of big—ticket items. i want to say upfront there is stuff everybody. there are some pieces which start at $50 but it gets into items like haunted mansion paintings which should go from $100,000. the collection will be exhibited to the public next month before the auction and not such a small world after all. it's so huge, and abandons

crore in los angeles has been hired to store it. some of the proceeds will be donated to children's charities. no matter how much it's worth, i really have the people who buy it appreciated as much as i do. tiffa ny buy it appreciated as much as i do. tiffany wertheimer, bbc news. stay with us. you have been watching newsday. satellite images of the sohae station in the north—west suggests that kim jong—un may station in the north—west suggests that kimjong—un may be station in the north—west suggests that kim jong—un may be fulfilling a promise he made to donald trump. north korea has always said the site was used for its space programme but america has suspected it was used to test ballistic missiles. we are getting reports that they are dismantling some of our sites. more to come. hello there. well, the heatwave of

summer hello there. well, the heatwave of summer 2018 is set to continue for the next week and possibly beyond that. in fact, the next week and possibly beyond that. infact, monday the next week and possibly beyond that. in fact, monday was the hottest day of the year so far, temperatures as high as 33.3 in suffolk. thursday, we could see temperatures as high as 3435 degrees. those temperatures building over the next few days. tuesday we are still drawing in the southerly flow of warm air particularly across central and eastern parts of england. further north—west, weather fronts moving in, cold fronts, introducing some slightly fresher conditions particularly to scotland and northern ireland on tuesday. here is that weak front, the band and northern ireland on tuesday. here is that weakfront, the band of cloud producing a few spots of rain across parts of southern scotland and northern england and wales. what on him to the south—east, pressure to the north—west. a few showers pushing into the western isles but the northern isles, dry and sunny. the chance of a shower in the east.

the chance of a shower in the east. the bridges in class: belfast around 2o the bridges in class: belfast around 20 or 21 degrees. slightly cloudier across parts of northern england and wales. most places dry in the south—east. just a small risk of an isolated shower and temperatures up to 30 degrees written a bit higher on tuesday afternoon. into the evening, looking dry across the country. tuesday night and wednesday morning, still hot and humid in the south and east, temperatures holding up south and east, temperatures holding up into the midteens, slightly fresher further north—west, 11 up into the midteens, slightly fresherfurther north—west, 11 or 12 degrees across scotland and northern ireland. into wednesday, it looks like a ireland. into wednesday, it looks likea similarday ireland. into wednesday, it looks like a similar day once again, lots of dry weather. a case of deja vu with a forecast at the moment. just the odd shower and cloud on the far north—west and the chance of an isolated shower cropping up across eastern england but temperatures in the south—east, 31 or 32 degrees, typically into the low to mid—20s further north—west. looking into

thursday, an area of low pressure trying to approach from the west, with high—pressure sitting out to the east but we may well see a bit ofa the east but we may well see a bit of a change in air mass so that hot air that is with us at the moment will get gradually eased away towards the east, with slightly colder conditions. a fresh appeal to the weather. across england in particular, we will hold onto that heat but temperatures you will notice just starting to dip down into the weekend. further north and west across the country, many places will be dry. it will cool down a touch into the weekend. goodbye. i'm babita sharma with bbc news. our top story: public anger is growing in china following a vaccine quality scandal. north —— kim jong—un north —— kimjong—un may be fulfilling a promise made to donald

trump by shutting down a site in north korea. the uk government has sparked a political row saying it won't object to the execution of two islamic state suspects if they're convicted in america. polls will open in a few hours in pakistan's general election — a story trending online. there are nearly 4,000 candidates that a re contesting over 272 national assembly seats. more than 100 million people are eligible to vote. that's all. stay with bbc news. now on bbc news, hardtalk‘s stephen sackur speaks