this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: votes are counted in pakistan's general election — we'll bring you the latest. searching for the missing — after the dam collapse, laos‘ prime minister confirms at least 130 people are unaccounted for. i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: the search for more bodies in greece's devastating fires continues — and we hear from those who made dramatic escapes. iam sure i am sure i am not going to make it. this is the end. but the prayers we re this is the end. but the prayers were answered. it's the question everyone is now asking: could there be life on mars after scientists say they've found evidence of liquid water on the planet. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news — it's newsday. good morning.

it's 7am in singapore, midnight in london, and 4am in islamabad, where votes are being counted after pakistan's general election. one side has already rejected the result. the party of disgraced former prime minister nawaz sharif says the count is rigged against them. it's fighting the party led by former international cricketer imran khan whose supporters have already been celebrating across the country though only about a fifth of votes have been counted. here's our correspondent secunder kermani. celebrations by imran khan's supporters as results roll in. it looks increasingly likely that the former cricketing star will be pakistan's next prime minister and his party, the largest in the next parliament. i think the hard work of pti, the members of pti, which is definitely, in my opinion,

the biggest political force in the history of this country has paid off, and people are not only who support pti but also the people of pakistan can look forward to a golden era. votes are still being counted, with final results likely tomorrow. earlier today, imran khan cast his vote. he's promised to crackdown on corruption. his main rival, former prime minister nawaz sharif, was sentenced to ten years in jail following an investigation khan pushed for. his brother shehbaz has been leading the party in his absence. tonight, he rejected the results, claiming fraud. this election campaign is revolved round two competing narratives, about the case against nawaz sharif. his supporters say the pakistani military has been working behind the scenes to ensure his conviction and remove him from power.

imran khan says those claims are simply an attempt to distract from the corruption allegations. residents in rawalpindi watching the results come in were divided about who they believed. translation: nawaz sharif has been in power and he has been stealing from us and taking the money abroad. i support the pml—n because they fulfilled their promises, they developed infastructure and reduced power cuts. imran khan's supporters are in buoyant mood tonight, but it seems likely he would have to form a coalition in order to take power. and his opponents seemed adamant in rejecting his victory. secunder kermani, bbc news, rawalpindi. we'll have more on the pakistan general election in a few minutes' time. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. the so—called islamic state group says it carried out a wave of suicide bombings and other attacks in syria's southern suwayda province. the syrian observatory for human rights reports more than 200 people are reported

to have been killed. it's the deadliest such operation against government—held areas for months. america's president trump and european commission president jean—claude juncker say they have done a trade deal to avert a trade war, that mr trump called ‘a new phase' in relations. as well as buying more us soybeans and energy, the head of the eu's executive said they agreed to work towards zero tariffs on industrial goods. we have identified a number of areas on which to work together, work towards the tariffs on industrial goods, that was my main intervention. we propose to come down to zero tariffs on industrial goods. new zealand's parliament has passed legislation granting paid leave to domestic violence victims. supporters hailed the law as a groundbreaking measure to help those trying to escape abusive relationships. it grants victims ten days of extra

leave a year to allow them to stop the violence and get help. in business: the european court ofjustice has thrown out an appeal by the confectionery group, nestle, to trademark its kit—kat chocolate bar. the firm had been trying to trademark the four—fingered shape for more than a decade, which rival chocolate—maker cadbury had been fighting against. the prime minister of laos says more than 130 people are missing after a pa rtially—built dam collapsed on monday, flooding nearby villages. thongloun sisoulith has now gone to the affected area to monitor relief efforts. the two south korean contractors constructing the dam say they reported damage at least a day before parts of the structure gave way. environmental groups say large dam projects in developing countries, such as this, pose significant safety risks to the local

population. with me is marwinjilani, head of the country cluster support team of the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies. he's in bangkok. marwinjilani, marwin jilani, thank you marwinjilani, thank you so much for joining us. this is really a serious concern. 130 people still unaccounted for. yes, it is a very serious concern that we still have scores of people not accounted for, they are missing. we also have more than 1000 people who are still stranded without emergency shelter and we are trying to reach them. and you understand that the area has been significantly damaged, the infrastructure is destroyed, and it is very hard to reach them. so we are trying, the laos red cross, the

military, the government, is trying to reach people through boats and helicopters. that is the only way to reach them and get them to a state shelter. 1000 people, trying to get them to save shelters, but there are also over 6000 other people who have been displaced from their homes. where are they now? had they been taken care of? had they been sheltered? i think there are much more. more than 3000 people have been affected. half of them have been affected. half of them have been taken to save shelters, schools in unaffected areas, government buildings, and so on —— safe shelters. a significant number of people on the rooftops. the laos red cross has said that some people have slept on the rooftops. we are trying to reach those people and get them to reach those people and get them to safety. we are also trying to get the relief items to them, food,

water, you know, blankets, clothing, and also to provide them with some medicine. so, marwin jilani, do you have a timetable on when you should be reaching these people who have been abandoned and are still on rooftops ? been abandoned and are still on rooftops? we have already teams deployed by laos red cross in the area. we are deploying from nearby provinces water purification equipment, so these will be there today and will provide fresh water. we are also utilising the warehouses in the thai red cross in nearby border areas were today we are sending 500 families of food kits. these packages will be on trucks today and they will head to the laos borderfrom thailand today and they will head to the laos border from thailand today. we are also shipping from our regional office shelter equipment and tense

and blankets and other necessities to reach totally by today or tomorrow. indeed. they need immediate help. thank you so much for joining immediate help. thank you so much forjoining us. and good luck. marwinjilani from forjoining us. and good luck. marwin jilani from the red forjoining us. and good luck. marwinjilani from the red cross joining us from bangkok. survivors have been describing their desperate battles to escape the wildfires that swept through parts of coastal greece earlier this week. many were trapped in homes and vehicles with others forced to seek refuge in the sea. at least 80 people are now known to have died. from the coastal town of mati our correspondent mark lowen reports. they had hoped until now. but the family ofan they had hoped until now. but the family of an 88—year—old have heard the worst, that she was the 80th person killed by the wildfires. we re were found unrecognisable1d her

mix her ii zeeleeev—eel—ezeeeei' if litrii did -ain will come down i will when the pain will come down i will prosecute all levels everybody who is responsible for this catastrophe. i will not stop until i will die. it is still not known how the spark was lit, but the gale force winds meant the flames galloped down the mountains. dozens are still missing and almost 200 were injured. like susan from britain, burned by the fire as she ran from her home. it is ha rd to fire as she ran from her home. it is hard to find words for such a tragedy. when i was in the house and i was going out i thought i am not going to make it. that this is the end. but prayers were answered. and

i managed. the streets of mati are like a burnt out ghost town. scorched shoulder all the remain a family homes. some still bear the case of the inferno. the engineers, the task of assessing what can still stand and what must be torn down. it is as if an earthquake struck. something very, very bad has happened here. and just the feeling of walking along in a place that i knew was full of green and trees and all this thing is very difficult and they have to deal with people who have psychological problems right 110w. have psychological problems right now. it is quite difficult for everyone. volunteer lifeguards scour the coast for any sign of life or death. hundreds of people were rescued as they ran into the sea to

escape the flames. the hope of finding any more survivors has virtually gone. so the aim now is to look for belongings and bodies. for some bc marked their salvation the flames, for others it was the end of —— be sea. memories of that night they buried here and in the remains ofa they buried here and in the remains of a part of greece scarred forever. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we take a closer look at the causes and the concerns of the global heatwave. ok, 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: votes are being counted

in pakistan's election — early signs suggest that imran khan could be the next prime minister. and the devastating impact of the fires in greece — rescuers are searching for many still missing. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the straits times is reporting on the bomb that killed at least 30 people in pakistan on the day the country went to vote in general elections. it says a man blew himself up outside a polling station in quetta in an attack claimed by the islamic state group. the financial times says that iran's president hassan rouhani has sacked the governor of the country's central bank. the report says the islamic republic is grappling with a currency crisis as well as the imminent tough new sanctions coming from the us. and finally the japan times has a story about the need for foreign workers injapan‘s nursing sector. it says that the japanese government is looking for over half a million

vietnamese caregivers to address a chronic labour shortage in the country. let's return to our top story, the general election in pakistan — i'm joined by aleena ali, from the control risks. analysing in detail the situation in pakistan. what is your assessment of the moment that perhaps this early lead suggesting imran khan maybe the next prime minister? unconfirmed election results are suggesting the party has performed better than many expected nationwide but even though they have performed well, it is

going to have to form a coalition government. in the formation of the coalition government remains uncertain but the pti is going to be leading a coalition over the next five years. the 30% or so of the vote counted but initial predictions are that about 100 seats have gone to imran khan out of 272. at the federal level. pakistani politics i used to coalitions. how will this one work? pakistani politics has not had the best experience with coalition governments and i think considering how polarised relations between the mainstream parties and the fact that political contests are at unprecedented levels, imran khan, should he be leading the coalition, will need to display a certain degree of political pragmatism to be able to make the kinds of

concessions that will be required with a coalition government as well as managing federal provincial relations considering his adversaries will be majorities within the provincial governments. imran khan is likely to display that kind of pragmatism. as we've seen over the past few months, he's done so over the past few months, he's done so regarding the recruitment of several electable politicians. unpicking maintains the intent to lead the government at the federal level and i think we can expect that kind of political manoeuvring on the pa rt kind of political manoeuvring on the part of the pakistan authorities. notwithstanding the stability and polarisation of the coming weeks. having said all that, would you say this would be a democratic election? there have been concerns by the mainstream parties about the creation of an environment that amounted to somewhat of a pre—

rigged poll. there is a lot of conversation about intimidation, allegations of bribery, very much a pa rt allegations of bribery, very much a part of the security presence around polling stations. those allegations have surfaced by mainstream parties. going forward, the ability of those allegations to affect democratic continuity will come about as to whether demonstrable evidence can emerge and brought about by the mainstream parties, particularly evidence in relation to polling day which is what the parties are shifting their electric towards. moreover, the impact on democratic continuity and the broader democratic political trajectory depends on whether opposition parties can mount a concerted effort to demonstrate that these elections we re to demonstrate that these elections were in fact held in an unfair

manner. just quickly, when will we get a result? the election commission had had a press conference recently and said results can be announced within a few hours. although there are technical and administrative delays. in a few hours' time, we will bring the result here. thank you forjoining us. as we've been reporting over the last few days, the heatwave is contiuning to dominate the news and our daily lives. it's hot, you don't need us to tell you. but why? as temperatures continue to break records around the globe, matt taylor from our weather centre expains what's going on in the atmosphere. right across the northern hemisphere we've teamed —— would seem temperature extremes. japan, the heat has been relentless, 41 recorded around the tokyo area making it the hottest spell of weather over and that's on the back of historic rainfall which brought

widespread flooding to western areas. notjust daytime, night as well. the world's highest minimum temperature in our mind, not dropping lower than 42 degrees. byj _by dropping lower than 42 degrees. byj —— bya dropping lower than 42 degrees. byj —— by a day in georgia, tbilisi hit 41 and north africa still to be verified, in algeria, the highest temperatures recorded a 51 across the african continent. western europe, scandinavia, sweden saw its hottest may on record and records tumbling around the arctic circle leading to widespread wildfires. even the uk fires have been a common theme this summer. we see the dry start to summer. that's been a problem in eastern parts of canada with montreal, records going back 147 years, 36.6 degrees was enough to break the all—time record and 44 recorded at the university campus in

la which saw the heat across california become record—breaking. what is the reason behind all these record—breaking temperatures? the clue lies in the jet stream. a ribbon of fast flowing air circulating the northern hemisphere. normally not as undulating as you see on this chart and that helps to move with the systems along but this more undulating pattern is the sign ofa more undulating pattern is the sign of a slower running jetstream and means weather patterns become a bit more static. northern europe, high pressure building on its remained in place, helping temperatures decline day by day and bringing relentless dry weather as well. the clue to what is causing the jetstream to become more undulating and deliver bit slower could lie with a few things. it could be the arctic region where these pictures show the ice sheet growing through the winter months and through the recent winter, again, one of its lowest

maximum is on record. with temperatures climbing, we don't get the arctic and the equatorial regions in its attempt to contrast which fuels a strongerjetstream. we have to look potentially to the likes of the mid—atlantic. the americas out in the west, africa and the east, this area of green and blue which shows mid—atlantic temperatures lower than we would normally expect. this is caused atla ntic normally expect. this is caused atlantic oscillation which happens every so often but it can have a big impact on weather patterns. it can also have an impact on the likes of atla ntic also have an impact on the likes of atlantic hurricanes. we have not seen many of those so far. it might bea seen many of those so far. it might be a below average season and it could be those hurricanes we need to stir the jetstream and start weather patterns moving again right around the globe. scientists have found evidence of an existing body of liquid water on mars. they believe that a lake sits beneath the planet's south polar ice cap, and estimate it is about 20 kilometres wide. the discovery was made by italian researchers from the european space agency. here's our science correspondent victoria gill, who explains why this is such a significant find.

it is or was there of a life on mars? it's a question that six iron —— excited scientists as the dawn of the space age and there are orbiters, landers, roving vehicles on the red planet analysing it but it's an open question. how habitable is our celestial neighbour and what could have inhabited it? here are four key moments in the search to a nswer four key moments in the search to answer the question. in 1976, four key moments in the search to answerthe question. in 1976, nasa's viking lander was the first mission to the microbial life on the surface. it didn't find evidence of even the simplest organic molecule. since then some members of the viking team have questioned whether they missed something but to this day there is no accepted evidence of microbial life on mars. injuly of

1996, nasa scientists announced fossils with bacteria like from meteorites in antarctica from mars which crashed 12,000 years ago. after huge initial excitement nasa set up to two years of continuing to study the meteorite, those initial lines of evidence simply went away but to this day, there are still scientists who maintain the initial analysis was valid. both nap at dubbo —— both nasa's curiosity rover and the orbiter had detected wits of methane on mars. that is tantalising because on earth the vast majority of methane comes from microbial life ‘s future martian missions have set their sights on detecting exactly where that gas is coming from. most recently, and possibly most excitingly, researchers have found the first evidence of an existing body of liquid water on mars. it was

found using radar and this is a sub glacial lake. in the future search for life on mars, there will be a lot of focus on this 20 kilometres wide body of water. scientists haven't found life on mars but now, they know where to look. victoria gill there. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. shares in facebook tumble after the social media giant's revenue and user growth disappoint investors. that's coming up in asia business report. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. good morning. if you think it's been

hot enough already this summer, we'll just wait for the next couple of days because it looks like it's going to turn even hotter. some spots could get to 36 degrees and that brings with it the chance of some thunderstorms and welcome rain and you can see from the satellite picture, a couple of different areas of low pressure spilling out into the atlantic as they approach our shores. we will eventually see some wet weather but ahead of that, drawing this very hot air up from the south. we start thursday morning in double digits just about wherever you are, parts of the south—east starting the day up around 20 degrees and as we go through the day, a lot of dry weather and some spells of sunshine. more on the way of cloud spreading up from south. small chance we might break out the odd shower into the afternoon. a bit more cloud into the west as well, into the western side of northern ireland, a bit cooler here. down towards the south—east, look at these temperatures. 34 degrees in

these temperatures. 34 degrees in the heart of london but someone the south—east, maybe 35 degrees. but the building heat and humidity, it looks like we will see some showers and thunderstorms starting to break out across the eastern half of the country, particularly as we head into the early hours of friday. thickening cloud and outbreaks of rain starting to trickle across northern ireland. a warm and muggy start to friday. during friday, this rain band tracking in from the west. then we see these thunderstorms blossoming to life across parts of south—east england, the east midlands, maybe eastern scotland. these are the areas most prone to vicious downpours. perhaps even some disruption. to the far east the country, that is where we might get all the way up to 36 degrees. however, we push these various bands of rain and thunderstorms to the east as we get into the start of the weekend. then we start to tap into some much fresher air, these green

and even blue colours blowing in our direction. during saturday, we say goodbye to our first rain band direction. during saturday, we say goodbye to ourfirst rain band quite quickly but there will be further bands of showers or further spells of rain from west to east on a fairly brisk breeze. the wind of the bit stronger than it has been of late. some sunny spells as well but a big drop in temperatures. 10 degrees in places. 25 for norwich in london. maybe a temple edinburgh and belfast. we stick to that fresh appeal and we will see some rain spreading from the list. in the final instalment of harry potter. you are watching the bbc news. i'm babita sharma. our top story. votes are being counted in pakistan's general election after millions of people made their way to polling stations. early results suggest that imran khan could be the next prime minister — which has been rejected by the opposition who say

the election is rigged. the greek authorities say 80 people are now known to have died in wildfires around athens, making them the deadliest ever recorded in the country. and the debate about life on mars is back in the headlines today. now scientists from the european space agency say they have detected a lake of liquid water under the martian ice. more on that story on the bbc news website. plenty more to come. see you soon.