i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. the headlines: an airstrike carried out by the saudi—led coalition in yemen hits a school bus — killing dozens of children the number of people killed in last week's earthquake on the indonesian island of lombok, has risen sharply to over 250. more than 150,000 are now homeless. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme. america's vice—president sets a goal of 2020 for creating a new space force as the sixth branch of the military. and portraits of lgbt activists in malaysia are removed from a public photo exhibition on the orders of a government minister. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning.

it's 7 am in singapore, midnight in london, and 2 am in yemen, where a strike on a school bus in the rebel—held north of the country has killed at least 30 children. the saudi—led coalition which carried out the attack has said it was a "legitimate military action" — aimed at missile launchers. with 8 million yemenis facing famine and three—quarters of the population in need of humanitarian aid, the new united nations special envoy to yemen has told the bbc in his first interview that the country faces collapse unless a political solution can be found. 0ur chief international correspondent lyse doucet reports a warning, you may find some of the pictures in her report distressing. school bags on their backs, shock in their eyes. children who'd been heading for a day out. a yemeni child's day ends like this all too often. many in hospital beds.

today, three to a bed — and many more dead. this man says an air strike in the market targeted the children's bus. "0ur shops were open", he says, "shoppers were just walking around." this was the school bus in a rebel controlled town. but the saudi—led coalition says it targeted missile launchers, taking aim at saudi cities, accusing the houthis of using children as human shields. an ugly proxy war, in a country teetering on the brink of collapse. i asked the un's envoy, what if this war doesn't stop? collapse, and massive, massive humanitarian suffering in yemen. and the effect of that on the region

— a possible increase in terrorist activities in yemen. al-qaeda, islamic state? so a failed state in yemen has extraordinary consequences for the region, and the wider region and beyond. for that reason, we need to act now. yemen is already the world's worst humanitarian crisis. more of its people rely on food aid like this than anywhere else in the world. millions on the verge of starving. a people desperate for peace, but many doubtful. translation: the warring sides don't want stability for yemenis or the yemeni people to be masters of their own state. translation: we have had countless rounds of talks. they all failed. but the situation in yemen is now so bad, maybe there is a glimmer

of hope that this conflict can be resolved. mr griffiths believes all sides are now ready for a political solution. the attacks are continuing, and the saudi—led coalition was backed by the united states, britain, france, providing weapons and support. that's something we will be discussing in geneva. myjob is to provide the opportunity for the people of yemen to sit down and talk peace. that is what we are here for. we're here to do that in a way that is consistent with security council resolutions, which include the requirement for disarmament and withdrawal of forces. that's the best answer, in my view, to the question about armaments on both sides. houthi rebels armed and trained by iran are still fighting too. both sides say they're ready to attend talks in geneva next month. the first in two years after two failed rounds.

if they keep failing, yemen itself will fail. lyse doucet, bbc news. we have much more on the crisis in yemen on our website. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. the number of people killed in last week's earthquake on the indonesian island of lombok, has risen sharply. officials say at least 250 people are now known to have died. since the 6.9 magnitude quake struck on sunday, more than 150,000 people have been left homeless. from lombok, mehulika sitepu reports. more than 350 are this shocks have struck since the quake on sunday but

this one was different. this was my reaction after my hotel was hit. i was saying that i am still shaking because i had to run from my hotel room on the third floor. the ceiling was collapsing, glass shattered, walls cracked and all guests were safe. that he was clearly visible. steady buildings like my hotel, 13 kilometres away from the epicentre in the north of lombok can withstand the shock. at rickety houses where most of the islanders live can not. and that is why tens of thousands of people are now left homeless. these tents a re people are now left homeless. these tents are now their homes. many are concerned about what will now become of them and their families. translation: i am scared to leave. the only way is to stay. i hope the

government tends to our needs and helps us to fix our homes. officials say creating temperature has been a priority as has the continued search for survivors. promises have been made to rebuild and ensure the future of every islander. also making news today: the ongoing detention of a renowned photographer in bangladesh is attracting international criticism from human rights groups. organisations including human rights watch have called for a government investigation into whether shahidul alam was tortured in custody, an allegation the police deny. mr alam was detained on sunday over facebook posts relating to mass protests by students calling for safer roads. he'd criticised the government's handling of the protests in interviews with international media. police used tear gas to disperse crowds at the weekend. at least 50 protesters have also been injured in street attacks. unconfirmed reports say israel and hamas have agreed a ceasefire after another 2a hours of violence.

israeli aircraft hit more than 150 targets in gaza. a pregnant woman and her 18—month—old child were killed. palestinian militants fired scores of rockets including a long—range missile into israel, injuring several people. puerto rico has revised up the death toll from the devastation caused by last september's hurricane maria. the us territory has raised the number of victims from 64 to more than 1400. the puerto rican authorities are asking congress for $139 billion in aid. a court in thailand has sentenced a monk to more than 100 years in jail for fraud and money laundering. the case was opened five years ago when footage emerged of wirapol sukphol on a private jet holding large amounts of cash. later this year, he'll face additional charges, including having sex with an underage girl. taiwan's government has flatly

rejected a proposal by china to build an undersea railway tunnel connecting the two sides. the proposal has been floated for years and chinese scientists are now reportedly close to reaching a consensus on the design. the proposed tunnel would link pingtan county in china's fujian province with hsinchu city, taiwan, stretching a total of approximately 135 kilometres, or 68 nautical miles. this would make it the world's longest undersea railway tunnel and 3.5 times longer than channel tunnel. it would cost a huge $80 billion with a desired completion date of 2030. 0ur correspondent cindy sui is in taipei. i know you have been keeping a close eye on this. can you tell me how

different this tunnel is from others we have seen? not only would it be the world ‘s longest undersea railway tunnel, it would also be one of the most challenging civil engineering projects ever undertaken in the 21st century. if china is to go ahead and build it. the reason it is hardest because what the engineers would have to do is to go under waterfor about engineers would have to do is to go under water for about 200 metres under water for about 200 metres under the taiwan strait, the water separating the two sides, and dig through complex layers of rock including extremely hard grammar —— granite and come up on the other side of taiwan ‘s city. they need to bypass to earthquake faults to build this tunnel. the tunnel itself would not only be longer than the channel tunnel by frequent five times but it will also be wider in diameter, about one third wider than its european counterpart. it would be

one of the most challenging projects that not only china, but the world, has ever undertaken. wide as beijing wa nt has ever undertaken. wide as beijing want this, given the fact you have outlined how would difficult it will be. for beijing, it has been carrying out a series of massive infrastructure project in what it considers its territory. we see a tibetan railway and also the dam and the one wrote one build project connecting china to its neighbouring countries. this project is notjust a transportation project is it surely will reduce the amount of time to transport passengers and cargo between the two sides. it ta kes cargo between the two sides. it takes four hours by ship. this will allow people to whizz through the tunnel in 30 minutes. but this is more than transportation, it is a political goal of beijing to connect the two sides and bring taiwan closer because, after all, it considers taiwan to be a province to

be reunified one day and by force if necessary. how do the taiwanese people feel? are they critical? the taiwanese government this week came out with a statement strongly rejecting the project, flatly saying that there is no chance they would have any discussions with china on this project, given the current circumstances. by that they mean that china has been pressuring taiwan militarily, flying fighter jets around the island and sailing at aircraft carrier around the island to intimidate it. it has also squeeze taiwan's international space by will win away allies and arresting citizens overseas and deporting them to china. is taiwan says no way, we will not stand to your tune. it is the words of the ministry of mainland affairs council. at the same time we see in at least one online survey, albeit

unofficial, but the taiwan peas —— taiwanese people see this as making perfect economic sense. thank you, cindy. the us vice—president says the time has come for a space force to counteract threats from russia, china, north korea and iran. setting out plans for the creation of a sixth branch of the us military, mike pence called on congress to invest $8 billion in space security systems over the next five years. 0ur correspondent in washington, chris buckler, has been following developments. donald trump really wants to see this new branch of the military setup, the first there would be for 7o setup, the first there would be for 70 years. he has been talking about the space force for a number of months now. he even seems to like the phrase itself, he uses that a lot of rallies. what vice president mike pence was doing today was setting out detail why this is needed. that is because both the president and vice president need congress to agree. so he was setting

out exactly why this space force is necessary. he was talking about other countries, saying that there are countries like russia, china, iran and north korea that are developing technology that could lead to problems for the us in space, for example, antisatellite technology. so mike pence gave us an idea of how this is being viewed by the administration, they talk about space potentially turning to a battlefield, to be a war fighting domain. it gives you the sense that america needs to take this seriously going forward although it is to be said within congress, and like they said within congress, and like they said they need congress support, there is scepticism. a little bit escape this is notjust in congress because things like the air force will not be happy because they deal with missile defence and will lose, potentially, some of their budget. and there is concern aboutjust how

this will work in terms of bureaucracy. how it would be sliced up. although they have managed to get the defence secretary on board because he was somewhat cynical not that long ago and now he says that he sees the merit in it. and certainly the argument is that you have to have a dedicated organisation, you have to have a space command which they are looking to set up, in order to address these problems going forward. and, certainly, they were saying that if you look at the technology being developed by countries over the next few years, that will become very important. but donald trump seems very committed to this. his re—election campaign has a new space force logo which they ask people to vote on. so you may get a logo and you may get the space force. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: why these photos celebrating 60 years of malaysian independence have been removed from an exhibition. also on the programme:

he has generated controversy for his comments on feminism, but it packets and's premise that in waiting prepares to be sworn in, we ask women what they want from their new leader. is big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, police prepared for a hugejob of crowd control. idi amin, uganda's brutal former dictator has died at the age of 80, he has been buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile after being overthrown in 1979. two billion

people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to ta ke the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. it began its journey off the coast of canada, ending three hours later when the sun set over the bay of bengal. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: an airstrike has hit a school bus in rebel—controlled northern yemen, killing and wounding dozens of children. the number of people killed in last week's earthquake on the indonesian island of lombok, has risen sharply to more than 250. and this story on the bbc website is

getting a lot of attention. it is about how the fast pace of life in china can impact young people ‘s mental health, when a 17—year—old revealed her work stresses, the crash tag 17 year olds really have a stressful life reached more than 33 million people on the social media platform. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the ongoing trade war between american and china is featured on the front page of the international edition of the new york times. the papers says attempts to diffuse the tarif crisis look set to end in stalemate, with some american companies re—thinking supply chains. the financial times reports of strained relations between ankara and washington, resulting in the turkish lira losing value against the dollar. america wants turkey to release us pastor andrew brunson. but talks aimed at resolving the diplomatic rift have so far failed to make progress.

and the gulf news reports on the first muslim woman set to be elected to the us congress. 42—year—old rashida tlaib, who is a fierce critic of president trump, has been selected to run for a safe congressional seat in michigan. now, what stories are sparking discussions online? the transfer window for the english premier league has been dominating social media. well it is now shut. but many of the major signings that had been speculated over actually failed to materialise. however, everton did buy colombia world cup star, yerry mina, for $35 million. festival organisers in malaysia have removed two portraits of lgbt activists from a public photo exhibition, on the orders of a government minister. the exhibition at the george town festival featured a series of portraits with different malaysians posing with the country's flag. but mujahid yusof rawa, malaysia's minister of islamic

affairs, said the promotion of lgbt culture was not supported in the country. the photos were taken last year to commemorate 60 years of malaysian independence. this woman is an activist, talking about his removal. first of all, it started from a viral page that started on social media andi viral page that started on social media and i expected that it would be public and they would bring the two speakers, which eventually they did. at the beginning i wasn't concerned about the pictures being taken away, but at the same time it worries me of the message being brought out to the public in regards of the community in malaysia itself. however, after really looking at the

whole matter seriously, i feel there is some miscommunication and misinterpretation of the whole event itself. so, tell me what is the impact in malaysia? have you seen a fairamount of impact in malaysia? have you seen a fair amount of support, or has there been criticism of this as well?|j would been criticism of this as well?” would personally say it comes from both ways. i was really, really touched to see even some of the activists asked for a page to be brought down. what do you think this tells us about the actions or the behaviour of the new malaysia government, because i know they were elected recently and there was meant to bea elected recently and there was meant to be a change in the tone?”

elected recently and there was meant to be a change in the tone? i mean, let's be realistic, it has been not even 100 days of the new government andi even 100 days of the new government and i am sure there is a lot of other stuff that they need to concentrate on. however, what concerned me is what i have been noticing, is that the way that the lg bt noticing, is that the way that the lgbt issue noticing, is that the way that the lg bt issue has noticing, is that the way that the lgbt issue has been put aside by people of the opposition itself. most of the time, issues of lgbt has been raised i the opposition, questioning whether the current government does support the lgbt community. let's turn to pakistan. imran khan generated controversy on the campaign trail for his comments about feminism. it's expected he will be sworn in next week as prime minister of pakistan. so what do women want for their new leader? maybe those comments were taken out of context, maybe he didn't mean that to say those. i will presume

that to say those. i will presume that he will try to play to the right, which is what a lot of politicians in pakistan have to be. i think his views could have been better well rounded and better articulated. he needs to look more into women in parliament and address the subject. i really would love to see 50% women representation in the cabinet. work on electoral reforms. he should be focusing on human development process —— projects and should be focusing on macro economics, stability. wanting to focus on the increasing polarisation and hatemongering of the society. the one thing that concerns me is his history with regards to blocking women representative legislation or women representative legislation or women friendly legislation is. what

i don't like is that sometimes there is too much self—promotion. maybe it is too much self—promotion. maybe it isa part is too much self—promotion. maybe it is a part of politics. i also very much like his idea of promoting and not believing in a status quo. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. coming up — the cost of success. we'll be looking at some companies in india, that are buying followers on instagram to boost their brands and raise their profiles. we have been experiencing heat waves across northern europe. take a look at these images now from southern france. waters swept through a summer camp in saint—ambroix, which is about 150 kilometres northwest of marseilles. teams of police, firefighters, all working together to rescue more than 100 children and the french weather service has put most of southern france in orange alert, many ——

meaning that a high risk of rainfall could in fact be dangerous. a com plete could in fact be dangerous. a complete change in weather systems there, especially in southern france. from me in london, thank you for watching newsday. good morning. yesterday brought quite a change across the country. we had some welcome rain. nowhere near enough, it nevertheless i am sure ibanez and growers out there area sure ibanez and growers out there are a happy. we had over an inch of rain in suffolk, also some thundery downpours towards the end of the afternoon and into the evening. that area of low pressure which was responsible is drifting off into scandinavia, but something also that is interesting behind that is introducing slightly fresher air in comparison to late, of late. that has brought a comfortable start to the day, chile in some places with

low single figures. a bit of a change to the story. we have not lost, completely, some of that war is set to return but today it is a straightforward day of sunny spells and scattered showers. some of those showers will become longer spells of rain, partly to the south—east. looking at the afternoon, into the far north of scotland showers should remain well scattered, a fresher feel to the afternoon with highest value is around 15— 17 degrees. a scattering of showers for northern ireland and northern england, some of those becoming frequent to the east of the pennines to the afternoon and showers and longer spells of rain into the south—east. by spells of rain into the south—east. by the end of friday most of those will have cleared away and bridges are set to get again, potentially into low single figures to start our weekend. we will start the weekend ona weekend. we will start the weekend on a positive note with a good deal of dry weather in the story, a little more cloud starts to gather into the south—west. you can see the

first signs of this frontal system which will bring some rain as we go into the weekend. that ranger stick pushing in into cornwall, moving into the dorset coast as we go to the afternoon but for most of us it will be a price that would story. clouding over into the afternoon with temperatures up to around 1622 degrees, with the sunshine in the south—east that will feel reasonably pleasant. for sunday it looks as though we will see somewhat whether across western areas, it anywhere is likely to set a dry, perhaps the east of scotland and the far south—east corner and quite a humid feel with highs of around 2a or 25 degrees. early part of next week to the northern half of the country continues with this fresh feel, but something a little bit right from tuesday onwards. further south, that little bit warmer, it looks as though that is where we are likely to see a little more in the way of sunshine with highs of 25 degrees. this is bbc news. our top story.

dozens of children have been killed and wounded in an air attack that hit a school bus in rebel—controlled northern yemen. the saudi—led coalition said its air strikes were aimed at militants who target civilians, and were in retaliation for a rebel rocket attack. the red cross says at least twenty—nine children died. the number of people killed in last week's earthquake on the indonesian island of lombok, has risen sharply to over 250. more than 150,000 are now homeless. and this video is trending on bbc.com: it's about how the fast pace of life in china can impact young people's mental health. when a 17—year—old revealed her work stresses on social media, the hashtag #17year0ldsreallyhaveastressfullife reached more than 33 million people on the sina weibo website, china's equivalent to twitter. that's all. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news, hardtalk‘s stephen sackur talks to associate chair of

the democratic party, jaime harrison.