welcome to newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: after myanmar‘s military is accused of genocide against the rohingya, the un security council calls for accountability. innocent human beings were raped, murdered and burned alive for no other reason than their religious and ethnic identity. the whole world is watching what we will do next and if we will act. air pollution may damage the brain and cause a massive drop in intelligence. a shock warning from china. hello. i'm ben bland in london. also in the programme: the beat goes on. britain's prime minister looks for business in africa ahead of the brexit deadline. and a final farewell to the queen of soul. fans in detroit pay their last respects to the legendary aretha franklin. live from our studios in singapore and london,

this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 7am here in singapore, midnight in london and 7pm in new york, where the un security council is holding an open meeting on myanmar — just a day after a un investigation accused the country's military leaders of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide against rohingya muslims. the inquiry found evidence of murder, rape and torture against rohingya — mostly in myanmar‘s rakhine state. hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee into bangladesh. our correspondent nada tawfik has more from the un headquarters in new york. this was the first time that the security council met to discuss this

report, which is the strongest yet pa rt report, which is the strongest yet part of the united nations and the secretary general antonio guterres said that the security council should seriously consider the conclusions in these reports. he said that accountability was necessary for any kind of reconciliation, and for stability in the region. and so he really outlined what still needs to be done to get this crisis to be resolved. it is clear that conditions are not yet met for the safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of rohingya refugees to their places of origin or choice. and i asked members of the security council to join me in urging the myanmar authorities to co—operate with united nations and to ensure an immediate and unimpeded access for the united nations and its partners. we must also continue to press for the rights of —— visas of

journalists who have been at deported for reporting on this tragedy. cate blanchett was also in the un's security council. the actor is an ambassador for the un's refugee agency and she was making impassioned plea on behalf of the refugees she met. she travelled to bangladesh and matt women and children who had suffered crimes, had had their villages burned, had seen members of their family killed before their eyes. —— and met. she said it was time to act is to make sure that they are protected in the future and she laid out some of the vivid account she heard from some of those refugee camp.|j vivid account she heard from some of those refugee camp. i have heard the gut wrenching accounts, stories of grave torture, of women brutally violated, people who have had their loved ones killed before their eyes. children who have seen their grandparents locked in houses that

we re grandparents locked in houses that were set alight. i am the mother, andl were set alight. i am the mother, and i saw my own children in the eyes of every single refugee child that i met. i saw myself in every parent. how can any mother in due are seeing her child thrown into a fire? their experiences will never leave me. well, myanmar's representative was also speaking to council members. myanmar has denied ethnic cleansing, they say that the operation was in response to an attack from rohingya rebels. he and the council again said that there we re the council again said that there were numerous attacks that were being ignored by the mainstream media, and he wanted that issue to be brought to the council's attention. at this rate, -- that these facts were conveniently discounted or ignored by mainstream media. a violent attacks were not a coincidence. as the terrorist and

the foreign western minds knew too well that the burmese military forces would respond with full force, they must also have anticipated the exodus of people from northern rakhine to bangladesh. these events were well organised and executed with the help of foreign nationals. china is still believe that this issue needs to be addressed to diplomacy, and that is an issue that myanmar agrees with. so certainly in the days and weeks to come when the full report is presented to the security council in the world's leaders descend on new york for the un general assembly, the conclusions of this report an issue for the rohingya people will continue to be addressed by international leaders. we'll have more on the rohingya crisis, and more from cate blanchett later in the programme.

first let's take a look at some of the day's other news. theresa may showed off her best moves to school children in cape town, as she began a three day visit to africa. theresa may says she wanted the uk to be the g7‘s number one investor in africa by 2022, with britain's private sector companies investing billions. she's called for a new partnership between the uk and africa after brexit, based on shared prosperity and job creation. we wa nt we want to see strong african economies that vidic businesses can do business with in a free and fair passion, whether it is through creating new customers to british exporters or opportunities for british investors, how integrated global economy means healthy african economies are good news for british people, as well as for african people. also making the news today: google has strongly denied claims by president trump that its search

engine is rigged to make favourable coverage of him difficult to find. mr trump said that google search results for "trump news" hid conservative and supportive voices. in a statement, google said its search engine was not biased. police in india have arrested a number of left—wing activists in connection with what they've described as a maoist plot to assassinate the prime minister, narendra modi. they were detained after raids in several cities, including delhi, mumbai and hyderabad. the governor of puerto rico has acknowledged publicly that the death toll from last year's hurricane maria is far higher than the official estimate to date. authorities say they accept new figures putting the numbers killed at almost 3000 — up from 64, which had been the original official number. police in northern ireland say a primark store is at risk of collapse after being destroyed by fire. the building in belfast is five storeys high and dates right back to 1787.

more than 100 firefighters attended the scene. fortunately, everyone was evacuated safely. russia has announced that it will hold its biggest military exercise since soviet times next month. the defence minister, sergei shoigu, said the vostok war games would involve nearly 300,000 troops, 36,000 tanks, and more than 1000 aircraft. its northern and pacific fleets will also be deployed. the exercises will happen over five days. now, air pollution may cause a drop in intelligence — that's according to new research in china. the four year study found that the longer people were exposed to dirty air, the greater the damage to their cognitive abilities. and it seems men are affected more than women, as our science editor david shukman reports. a wave of pollution rolls into the centre of beijing. dirty air is a reality of life for many in china. in fact, for billions

of people around the world. and scientists now know how it can damage the lungs and the heart, how it can shorten lives. some of the pollution we breathe in gets trapped in the nose, but tiny particles can slip into the lungs and then make their way into the bloodstream — and there's evidence they can even reach the brain. so pollution may not only have a physical affect, but a mental one as well. —— physical effect. to explore what pollution might be doing to the mind, scientists in china embarked on a massive investigation. this was one of the largest studies of its kind. it looked at levels of air pollution in dozens of cities across china. and at the results of tests of verbal reasoning and maths taken by 25,000 people in those places. the researchers conclude that long—term exposure to air pollution, impedes cognitive performance.

that is a bold claim, and it doesn't provide direct evidence of cause and effect, but it does follow a few other studies that have also suggested that polluted air may affect the brain, so a link is thought to be possible. we asked one of britain's leading pollution scientists to look at the chinese research, and he says it's another red flag warning that pollution may undermine mental ability. what they find is that older men were more susceptible, other studies have shown older women, so there's a few things that we need to resolve. but certainly, those red flags, there's more of them and itjust adds to the weight of evidence that air pollution has a wide range of effects in your body. this matters because most of the world's population lives in air that's polluted. india, for example, has some of the dirtiest conditions. and as the research into pollution advances and we learn more about the impacts, it may turn out

to be that they're not only physical, but mental as well. air pollution is a threat from africa, to here in britain. and its true implications may only become obvious in the decades ahead. david shukman, bbc news. assistant professor xi chen from yale school of public health is one of the authors of the report and joins us now from china. welcome to the programme. now you are one of the three authors of this really extensive study, four years long, involving some 30,000 people in china. tell us what is new specifically about your findings? had they been similar studies also conducted in the past? good morning, thanks for having me. this differs from the previous study in terms of

we looked out all age cohorts. previously, people more focused on children or the elderly but we say that it develops a lung age, so it will get even worse as people get older and there is a clear gender pattern. in fact, this is also missing in the previous study. but the gender pattern is very important, we find a large impact, a much larger impact for men compared to four women, so could have implications for the labour market because people are taking a high sta ke because people are taking a high stake exams. if during polluted days that taking those exams, and they are affecting the males and females differently, then it will affect the efficiency of the labour market. —— state exams. also, people who are

receiving lower education, so this is worrying because as we know the environmental stresses may enlarge the social inequality. if that is the social inequality. if that is the case, then the government should address this as one of the agenda. really fascinating study, as you say men being impacted by this more than women, and obviously the fear that air pollution causes mental as well as physical damage is hugely worrying when you take into account that 91% of the world's population actually lives in places where air quality actually exceeds guideline limits according to the who. what can people do about this, how can people protect their children in cities that are polluted? so this is the worry is in part from this report because not only find a short—term impact but a long—term impact, so if there is only a short—term impact than people can

ta ke short—term impact than people can take more effective actions like where facemasks and install air filters, but if it is long—term, then people have to stay outdoors every day sometimes. so that means they cannot totally avoid this impact, so that means the government should take more responsibility to clea n should take more responsibility to clean the air because that will have long—term consequence. clean the air because that will have long-term consequence. that's right. you speak of the government there, and we know that your president, xi jinping, declared war on pollution just a few years ago but we know that the problem is still rife in many chinese cities. so how will you use this report to lobby for less pollution? now, i think use this report to lobby for less pollution? now, ithink that use this report to lobby for less pollution? now, i think that things are getting better and according to the official statistics, the chinese inequality is improving by 30%. so thatis inequality is improving by 30%. so that is a very good signal, and i think there are a lot of good opportunities for us to further clea n opportunities for us to further clean the air. and i think the way

we go and the more difficult, because the first mile is the easiest way to go and the last mile is more difficult. for example, beijing will host another 0lympic games. that may be of very important opportunity, —— that may be a very important opportunity to lobby this, and also in china people care about their health. basically, everyone is more focused on their health behaviour in their daily life. so the government and the citizens should take more steps to make concrete measures to improve that. 0k, thank you so much for this, on that very important study. 0bviously, one of the authors of that report. you are watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: actress and un goodwill ambassador cate blanchett tells the un of her emotional meeting with rohingya refugees. also on the programme: thousands of aretha franklin fans have

gathered in detroit to pay their last respects to queen of soul. he's the first african—american to win the presidential nomination of a major party, and he accepts exactly 45 years ago to the day that martin luther king declared "i have a dream." as darkness falls tonight, an unfamiliar light will appear in the south—eastern sky. an orange glowing disk that is brighter than anything save the moon — our neighbouring planet mars. there is no doubt that this election is an important milestone in the birth of east timor as the world's newest nation. it'll take months and billions of dollars to repair what katrina achieved injust hours. three weeks is the longest the great

clock has been off duty in 117 years, so it was with great satisfaction that clock maker john vernon swung the pendulum to set the clock going again. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm ben bland in london. our top stories: after myanmar's military is accused of genocide against the rohingya, the un security council calls for accountability. new research in china and the us claims air pollution causes a significant reduction in intelligence, and the longer the exposure, the worse it gets. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the front page ofjapan times is dominated by japan's assessment of the threat from north korea.

the defence ministry says, despite recent us—north korea summit and ensuing denuclearisation talks, the threat posed by nuclear—armed north korea remains unchanged. it warns that pyongyang already has hundreds of missiles that could reach japan, and they may have succeeded in producing small nuclear warheads to fit on those missiles. the philippine star reports on a new complaint against the country's president. for the first time, relatives of victims of extrajudicial killings have filed a complaint before the international criminal court that duterte's war on drugs amounts to crimes against humanity. we always hear stories on how durability of plastics pollute the environment. but the international edition of new york times has a story that talks about transitory nature of plastics. layers of plastic in spacesuits worn by neil armstrong, the first man to walk on moon, are turning brittle with age, so the conservationists are in a race to save these artifacts for the

history of humanity. as we have been reporting, un investigators urged the security council to refer the situation in myanmar to the international criminal court, or failing that, to use other means to assure accountability. the actress cate blanchett, in her role as the un refugee agency's goodwill ambassador, sat down exclusively with the bbc‘s nada tawfik and said that council members must fulfil their duty to protect the rohingya people. well, i think that they are... you know, part of the security council's remit is to highlight and to continue, unveiling, not give up. just coming from speaking to the

secretary general, when the situation is impossible you have to push harder, and despair is something we cannot give into. and when you see the resilience of the refugees themselves, and when you sit ina refugees themselves, and when you sit in a school with children who have lost pa rents, sit in a school with children who have lost parents, you know, children who have seen their grandparents pushed back into burning buildings and set on fire, you know, i sat with one particular girl who was 1a, who had her three—year—old brother dismembered and thrown into a fire in front of her. and when you see them, you know, moving forward, positively, trying to go to school, it galvanises me and makes me want to not forget those individual faces in the magnitude of the numbers that we hear. and i think it is beholden upon the international community to shine a spotlight on it. it may seem impossible, but it is not an excuse for not doing anything. have you been disappointed that aung san suu

kyi, as the de facto leader and with the moral authority from her nobel prize, has done more?” the moral authority from her nobel prize, has done more? i think it is imperative that the government of me and mart now set about concrete paths towards giving the rohingya citizenship —— myanmar. every human being has... we are sitting here and we have a nationality. we are able to vote, we have the right to an education and basic healthcare. and these people have none of those rights, and so i think it is absolutely vital that the government of myanmar now, a year on from the crisis, starts to make positive, concrete steps towards making sure these things happen. it is, you know, of paramount importance. and after visiting the camps, being here to speak to international leaders, i wonder, have you reflected at all on the fact that there had been warning signs for decades? incitement to violence against the rohingya for

decades, and yet international leaders did not prevent this from happening? i think when we are dealing with a stateless people, the problem can often be invisible, and you can feel, you know, particularly in the west, that there is cultural barriers. but when you sit with other, newly arrived, who not even packed her bags, because she is worried that the latrine she has built right above us will collapse when the rains come, you realise that there are human beings inside this crisis, and i think it is really important that even though we talk about the numbers, that we don't lose sight of the human beings. and i suppose part of my role as a goodwill ambassador is to risk or that human face. rescore. thousands of fans of aretha franklin have been paying their last respects to the queen of soul in her hometown of detroit. aretha franklin's body is lying in an open casket for two days at the city's african—american history museum.

rajini vaidyanathan joined the crowds celebrating her life. # the moment i wake up, before i put on my make up. # i say a little prayerfor you... for fans of aretha franklin, it has been the ultimate pilgrimage. # what you want, baby, i got it... crowds lined up in the early hours as they waited to say a final farewell to their beloved queen of soul. but, before she said goodbye, she made one last entrance. ever the diva, a white vintage cadillac transported her in a golden casket. for those waiting patiently to see here, the mood here was melodic, not morose. # r-e-s-p-e-c-t. .. # r-e-s-p-e-c-t, that's just what it means to me.

why have you decided to queue up here to pay your last respects? i couldn't have did it for a better person. she is all of that and a bowl of soup. i am honouring her today. she means a lot to me, to my family, you know, to everyone. she is the queen of soul. she paved the way for a lot of black singers, and the d has turned it out for aretha. she will lie in state at the city's african—american museum for another day, her style, her grace and her ruby—red heels on show for one last time. it was beautiful. she looked like she was just sleeping. she had on red shoes, her dress was so elegant. she looked really pretty. herface isjust like she was relaxed. aretha franklin will be remembered as america's voice in more ways than one. she fought for gender and racial equality, supported charities and communities she cared about, and remains a role

model to so many in detroit and beyond. she was a global superstar who never forgot her hometown roots, and this week, her hometown is showing the world they will never forget aretha franklin. you have been watching newsday. i'm ben bland in london. and i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. stay with us. asia business report follows shortly. and, before we go, we would like to leave you with these pictures. landing a plane is never easy, and if it is something you always dread, look away now. this ana flight was trying to land at tokyo airport during typhoon cimaron last week, which caused winds of up to 200 km/h throughout japan. as you can see, the pilot had some trouble with the initial descent, but did eventually get everyone on the ground safely. hello. wednesday starts with a bit

of umbrella weather across some parts of the uk, but it should turn dry and sunny for many of us as the day goes on. two weather systems to talk about early on. this one clipping parts of south—east england and east anglia, with either showers 01’ some and east anglia, with either showers orsome rain, and east anglia, with either showers or some rain, could and east anglia, with either showers orsome rain, could be and east anglia, with either showers or some rain, could be some heavy bursts. and this one moving out of scotla nd bursts. and this one moving out of scotland and northern ireland, taking some increasingly light and patchy rain further south through england and wales. starting temperatures double figures for england and wales, but something fresher for scotland and northern ireland, and it is less humid behind this weather front, and there will be some sunshine around. a few showers pushing into north—west scotland, may be along to the west of northern ireland. rain clears east anglia and the south—east, lunchtime at the very latest, and then a weakening weather front takes a few late they showers towards this pa rt a few late they showers towards this part of the world. sunny spells developed elsewhere in england and wales. here is a look at things at 4pm in the afternoon, and on the breeze a feed of a few showers in the north—west scotland, but most other parts here in scotland, indeed in northern ireland, it will be dry. you may just catch in northern ireland, it will be dry. you mayjust catch the odd shower in the west. good sunny spells

developing across northern england, wales, the midlands and into the south—west, but a weakening weather front with still may the odd shower associated with it moves into east anglia and the south—east towards the end of the day, but hardly any rain left, really. and then it clears away and we've got clearing skies. and they mayjust be the odd patch of mr fogarty going to thursday morning, but overnight into thursday, a weather systems have cleared away, clearing skies, and temperatures dip away. much cooler night to come going into thursday morning. and into low single figures in some spots. under those clearing skies, we have an area of high pressure starting to build into the uk, which means although it is chilly first thing on thursday, there will be plenty of sunshine to come. first thing, it may not last all day. you see the land here showing that we have got clear skies. as we go deeper into thursday you could see some cloud starting to build. it may produce the odd shower, maybe more so in the western scotland. most will be dry, just

expect a bit more cloud to come, but still some sunny spells. and temperatures high teens for a few into the low 20s. so once we get pass that chance of umbrella weather in the day ahead, for the rest of the week it is looking mainly dry. but do note began the night will be chilly. and then as we go into the weekend will see a theme of cloud coming at the western parts of the uk that may produce a bit of patchy rain. the emphasis is on the plenty of dry weather, but as the weekend goes on, it will start to warm up a little bit as well. that's your latest forecast. hello. i'm ben bland with bbc news. our top story: the un security council has been holding an open meeting on myanmar. it comes the day after un investigators accused myanmar's military leaders of crimes against humanity and genocide. the un secretary—general, antonio guterres, said those found responsible must be held to account. a new study from china finds air pollution is causing a huge drop in our intelligence. researchers believe that the negative impact increases with age, and affects men with less

education the worst. and this video is trending on bbc.com. this ana flight was trying to land at tokyo's narita airport during a typhoon last week — winds were up to 200 kilometres an hour throughout japan. as you can see, the pilot had some trouble with the initial descent, but did eventually get everyone down safely. that's all for the moment. stay with us here on bbc world news.