this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: north korea appears to de dismantling part of a key rocket launch site in the north west of the country. public anger grows after the revelations that one of china's major pharmaceuticalfirms has been selling sub—standard vaccines. translation: we have been let down again and again, from milk powder, to food safety, to this vaccine, it is all unsafe. i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: 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. and extreme weather is taking it's toll in australia. 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. north korea appears to have started to dismantle part of a key rocket launching site. satellite images of the sohae station in the north west of the country, seen by the monitoring group, 38 north, suggest kimjong—un may be fulfilling a promise made to president trump injune. north korea has always said the site was used to launch satellites for its space programme but the us has always suspected it was used to test ballistic missiles.

we can now talk to our correspondent laura bicker in seoul. explain more about what we are seeing in the satellite images and the significance of the rocket testing facility. these images come from the monitoring site 38 north. they are very good at continually monitoring sites across north korea. and in the middle of the night here in seoul they released these images which they say shows the sohae site being partly dismantled. part of it isa being partly dismantled. part of it is a standard used to launch what the north koreans have set our satellites and part of it is an engine facility where it is believed that they developed fuel for those satellites, for the rocket launchers, and it is believed they

used fuel for ballistic missile is their too. so this could be a significant step forward. remember backin significant step forward. remember back in singapore injune kim jong—un is said to have promised president trump that the site would be dismantled. since then we have been watching and waiting. it would appear that these are the first steps that mr kim is making to dismantle the site. and on monday president trump said he was very happy with the progress in relations with north korea. yes, he was responding to newspaper report in the washington post which suggested that an public mr trump was being optimistic about relations with north korea but in private he was fuming at his aides. there has been frustration from the united states' site after singapore. they hoped for more progress. since than nothing has been done despite the pledge to return the remains of prisoners of war killed during the korean war,

that has not happened. there was this pledge to dismantle the site. that had not happened. but now we are beginning to see progress. with north korea i am always told that patience is the watchword. this is something that president trump is also having to learn. and this is only one rocket testing facility. how many more only one rocket testing facility. how many more are only one rocket testing facility. how many more are there in north korea? well, when it comes to how many sites that might be, no one really knows, and that's part of the problem. there might be hundreds. and when it comes to what happens next, many people are wondering how many sites there are, would independent inspectors be allowed in? that would be the key test if north korea was serious about dismantling the weapons programme, allowing independent inspectors over the border to not just allowing independent inspectors over the border to notjust see how many sites there are, but to see what could be done to dismantle them. thank you so much for the update, from seoul, laura bicker. 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. 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 years. he also talked about authoritarianism. he said that he would not stay in powerfor a day longer than he was democratically elected to. and he spoke about the war on drugs. he said that this campaign is far from over and that it would continue as unrelentingly 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. dramatic footage has emerged, which captures the moment a gunman opened fire on a busy street in toronto. at least two people died and a dozen were wounded during the attack which took place in the city's bustling greektown neighborhood. the 29—year—old suspect was found dead in an alley after an exchange of gunfire with police. 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. let's get to 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 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. they clearly don't work. translation: we have been let down again and again, from milk powder, to food safety, to this vaccine scandal, it is all unsafe. translation: if this hadn't been in the press, we would never have found out how poor the inspections are. changsheng 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 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 parents are coming 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 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. this is all a long way from china

becoming a reliable global exporter of safe vaccines. 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. and i'm babita sharma in london.

our top stories: north korea appears to de dismantling part of a key rocket launch site in the north west of the country. public anger is growing after the revelations that one of china's major pharmaceutical firms has been selling sub—standard vaccines. 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. those are the papers. 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're calling it the big dry. 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's been living in drought. this is the mighty pages 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 too. we just don't know when it's gonna break anymore, it might break next month or next year, i don't know, and if it breaks next year, i won't be here probably. but i don't know, my father's 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 hay shortage means this load had to travel 800km. most areas haven't had rain for the last 18 months, so that's not only causing a challenge for the farmers, it's also causing challenges for the local communities. you know, 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're 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 their sixth year of drought. it's taken a toll notjust on rural economies but on human resilience, with some farmers taking their own lives. a lot of these places have been in families for five,

six generations. so on top of the issues around the depression of not being able to keep your farm going, and people take that on as theirfault. you know, they've failed somehow, and that leads to enormous amounts of depression. the helpjohn‘s received means he can make it through the month. what happens then depends on what falls from the sky. hywel griffit, bbc news, in the hunter valley. 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. one of the most serious heatwaves in modern times came in 1976. water was in such short supply, people queued for it in the streets and for 15 days running,

parts of the uk were above 32 celsius. we haven't seen that this year so far. and back in 1969, a drought was so intense that one part of east anglia had hardly any rain for 70 days. we're approaching that now, but we're not there yet. what is striking now is that multiple heatwaves are happening at the same time. this is finland, where record heat is great for holidaymakers while nearby sweden is battling forest fires. even in the far north of the arctic, temperatures there are far 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. that's flow of high—altitude air that governs our weather. often in summer, it has a rather gentle wave, meaning that we tend to get cooler conditions. but this year, it's been meandering in great loops and we've ended up to the south of it, which means

we're getting hotter weather. add to that the sea temperatures similar to previous heatwaves, and climate change. the warming of the atmosphere making heatwaves more likely. what we're seeing actually is the sort of temperatures we're seeing now could potentially become the norm in only 30 years' time or so if we keep on emitting greenhouse gases. it's important to stay also that the trajectory of the future climate depends very much on whether mankind continues to increase emissions, or whether it's possible to reduce those emissions. injapan, the past few days have set new records for temperature. several dozen people have died. engineers are checking buckled rail tracks. the governor of tokyo says it's 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 year in 2020. and david shukman the heatwave. ——

science editor david shukman there on the heatwave. 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 avid disney collector richard craft is selling off his theme park vehicles, props and artefacts. they span six decades of disneyland history. we have dumbo hanging in the living room of our house. 800lb of elephant suspended over people's heads.

mr craft began his collection 25 years ago. he also owns a disneyland ticket booth, original drawings, concept sketches and posters from the park and they‘ re expected to fetch a lot of money. this particular auction is full of big—ticket items. i want to say upfront that there's stuff everybody. there's some pieces that start at $50 but it gets into items like haunted mansion paintings that should go from in the $100,000 to $200,000 range. 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, an abandoned store 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 appreciate it as much as i do. tiffany wertheimer, bbc news. you've been watching newsday. i'm rico hizon in singapore.

stay with us. alphabet, google's parent, its stock price is soaring after posting smashing results despite record—breaking fines. that's coming up next in asia business report. and before we go, meet wallace and his owner christie from the west of england. the pair had been prevented from competing at top equestrian dressage events because wallace is a mule — half donkey, half horse. well, the good news is that british dressage officials changed its rules and wallace was able to compete and win at an event in the city of gloucester. christie said she was over the moon. more on that story on the bbc news website. angst forjoining more on that story on the bbc news website. angst for joining us, goodbye. —— thanks forjoining us.

hello there. well, the heatwave of summer 2018 is certainly set to continue for the next week and possibly beyond that. in fact, monday was the hottest day of the year so far, we had temperatures as high as 33.3 celsius at santon downham in suffolk. thursday, we could see temperatures as high as 34 or 35 degrees. so those temperatures building certainly over the next few days. tuesday, we're still drawing in this southerly flow of warm air, particularly across central and eastern parts of england. further north—west across the british isles, some weatherfronts moving in, some cold fronts, so they're going to be introducing some slightly fresher conditions, particularly to scotland and northern ireland on tuesday. here's that weak front, a band of cloud producing a few spots of rain across parts of southern scotland, northern england and perhaps into wales as well. hot and humid to the south—east, fresher to the north—west. a few showers pushing into the western isles but the northern isles, largely dry and sunny. lots of sunshine across western parts of scotland.

the chance of a shower in the east. temperatures in glasgow and in belfast too, 20 or 21 degrees in the sunshine. 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 once again getting up to 30 degrees or even a bit higher on tuesday afternoon. into the evening hours, looking dry across the country. tuesday night and wednesday morning, still hot and humid in the south and the east, temperatures here holding up into the mid—teens, slightly fresher further north—west, 11 or 12 degrees our overnight lows across scotland and northern ireland. into wednesday, it looks like a similar day once again. lots of dry weather, so a case of deja vu really with a forecast at the moment. just the odd shower and more cloud in 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 the mid—20s further north and west. now, looking into thursday, we're looking at an area of low pressure trying to

approach from the west, bumps into high pressure sitting out towards 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 likely to move in. so a fresher feel to the weather. across england in particular, we will hold onto that heat into the middle of the week, but temperatures you'lljust notice starting to dip down into the weekend. and further north and west across the country, although many places will be dry, there will be some showers and it will cool down a touch into the weekend. bye— bye. i'm babita sharma with bbc news. our top story: north korea appears to be dismantling key rocket site, the sohae station, suggesting that kim

jong—un may well be fulfilling a promise he made to donald trump in junein promise he made to donald trump in june in singapore. public anger is growing in china following a vaccine quality scandal. hundreds of worried parents are rushing to hospitals to see if their children's vaccinations are valid. polls will open in a few hours in pakistan's general election — a story trending online. 0ur there are nearly 4,000 candidates who are contesting over 272 national assembly seats. more than 100 million people are eligible to vote. that's all. stay with bbc news. and the top story in the uk: