welcome to newsday, on the bbc news. i'm sharanjit leyl, in singapore. the headlines: president trump under attack from inside the white house, but close aides deny writing an anonymous article that slammed his presidency. joyful scenes in india as the supreme court rules that gay sex is no longer a criminal offence. i'm kasia madera, in london. also in the programme: fighting forjustice — we speak to the wife of one of the reuters journalistjailed in myanmar for invesitgating genocide in the country. and the hollywood star burt reynolds has died at the age of 82. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news — it's newsday. good morning.

it's 8am in singapore, 1:00 in the morning in london, and 8pm in washington, where donald trump's supporters are desperately trying to find out which of his staff penned an anoymous new york times editorial. the author of the column claimed to be part of a broader resistance to the president, working inside the administration. senior officials have been lining up to deny they wrote the article. the white house says the author should name themselves and resign. our washington correspondent nick bryant reports. this american stately home is now the scene of a washington whodunnit. which administration official was in the new york times with an article stabbing the president in the back? the anonymous editorial claims some trump appointees are working diligently to frustrate parts of his agenda, that he is impetuous, adversarial, petty, ineffective, anti—democratic, that his presidency is defined by amorality. god bless you and thank you,

mr president. the article struck washington like a lightning bolt and, shortly afterwards, at a meeting with american sheriffs, the president delivered his unsmiling response. if the failing new york times has an anonymous editorial — can you believe it? anonymous, meaning gutless, a gutless editorial, we're doing a greatjob. the poll numbers are through the roof, our poll numbers are great, and guess what? nobody is going to come close to beating me in 2020. so thank you very much, i appreciate it. the white house issued a statement calling for the "coward" who wrote the article to resign. the president demanded that the new york times turn him or her over to the government for national security purposes. there was also this one—word tweet written in capital letters, asking, "treason 7 " with the rumour mill in overdrive, even the vice—president had to issue a denial, saying, "it wasn't me". anyone who would write an anonymous editorial,

smearing this president, who has provided extraordinary leadership for this country, should not be working for this administration. they ought to do the honourable thing and they ought to resign. but, look, the bottom line is the american people see through all of this. but the article reinforces a central narrative in this explosive new book from bob woodward, that administration officials are trying to protect the american people from america's elected leader. reporter: mr president, who wrote the op—ed? so who, of all the president's men and women, make up this quiet resistance? reportert: how are you going to catch the op—ed writer, mr president? with more than 20 cabinet officials issuing denials, it remains washington's great unanswered question. for critics of the president, this article offers proof of a white house in chaos. for his supporters, it backs up his fervent claim that the political establishment and liberal media is out to get him. that what he calls the "deep state" is trying to subvert his presidency. nick bryant, bbc news, washington.

let's take a look at some of the day's other news: it's a groundbreaking victory for gay rights, and it sparked celebrations outside india's supreme court. the country's highest court, has unanimously struck down, one of the world's oldest bans on consensual gay sex, overturning over 150 years of anti—lg bt legislation. in theirjudgement, the justices said, the indian constitution was not a "collection of mere dead letters" and should evolve with time. divya ayra reports. it is a wave of relief, the end of two decades of legal struggle to take out a victorian law that made gay sex criminal. the court struck off the law and said it was a weapon for the harassment of india's lesbian, gay, bisexual

and trans community. two consenting adults have sex of any type, in private. if there is consent and it is in private, it will not be an offence under 377. i haven't come out to my parents, so i'm going to do that tonight. this is a huge turn of events and i didn't expect, like, the whole... ijust came here to listen to whatever the verdict was, and now i'm out. the colonial—era law known as section 377 categorised gay sex as an unnatural offence, and was decriminalised in 2009, only to be made criminal again in 2013, after an appeal. in its finaljudgement, the supreme court has now said that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a violation of fundamental rights. the rains clearly haven't dampened the spirits here.

they all want to soak in the moment and celebrate their freedom. the 157—year—old colonial law meant that there was a sense of fear, and it pushed many into the closet. but today, they are out and proud. activists say there is a tough battle of social stigma and homophobia still to be fought. it will take a lot of time. we have to fight the stigma in our home, in the neighbourhood, the friend circle, in offices. that — i mean, it's a long battle. this victory came after a long legal fight with religious groups and the government, and it is only the beginning. now, they dare to dream of the right to marry, adopt, and inherit property, just like heterosexuals. divya ayra, bbc news, delhi. also making news today: there have been sharp exchanges at a meeting of the united nations security council, as britain briefed members

on its investigation into the nerve agent attack in southern england in march. the united kingdom has accused two alleged russian military intelligence officers of poisoning the former russian spy, sergei skripal, and his daughter. and has received the backing of the us, france, germany and canada. russia has called the accusations "repeated lies". the work in a parallel universe where the rules of international affairs or ignored. translation: london needs a purpose to a unleash a disgusting anti— russian hissed area and to involve other countries if necessary. the far—right candidate who's leading the polls in brazil's presidential race, has been stabbed while campaigning a month before the election. jair bolsonaro's son has tweeted that he's recovering in hospital from a superficial injury.

the us department ofjustice has charged a north korean man over a cyber attack on sony pictures, saying he was acting on behalf of the government. authorities say parkjin hyok masterminded the sony attack in retribution for comedy film the interview, about a plot to assassinate north korea's leader kim jong—un. north korea has called the allegations "absurd". british airways says there's been a mass theft of personal and financial details of more than 380,000 of its customers. the data breach happened over two weeks starting on 21st of august. the stolen data did not include travel or passport details. british airways says anyone who believes they might have been affected to contact their bank. north korea's leader kimjong—un has said his faith in donald trump

remains "unchanged" and he wants to denuclearise the korean peninsula during the us president's first term. mr kim made his comments to envoys from seoul who were in pyongyang to arrange a summit between the north and south korean leaders later this month. relations between the north and the united states have turned sour since the historic trump—kim summit in singapore in june. earlier i spoke with duyeon kim from the center for a new american security who explained the significance of the latest meetings. you can expect the south korean president moonjae—in to go to pyongyang with two broad missions. one is to further improve inter—korean relations and further cement and implement their april panmunjom declaration. and second is, as you mentioned, to try to revive us—north korea talks and the second part,

reviving us—north korean talks, is extremely important for south korea, especially for president moon because he wants to accomplish his agenda. his peace agenda. they have a single five—year term so, as long as the us and north korea are engaged and, if there is progress on the nuclear issue, that means that sanctions can be lifted and that is good news for the south korean president. what is needed to break the impasse between the north korean and us on these? the north korean and us on this? the challenge right now is they are stuck in this lull, in the stalemate of who makes the first move. from the us standpoint, they need north korea to take

a serious and credible step towards denuclearisation, like in the form of a nuclear inventory. from north korea standpoint, it believes it has done so much already with unilater action taken before the singapore summit and shortly after. the north is demanding that washington agreed to declare that the korean war is over but declaring the korean war over is a tricky and complicated complex issue. as you mentioned earlier, president moon is under great pressure and needs the us and north korea to keep talking to achieve his peace agenda. how difficult will that be for him to achieve? it is a difficult because washington wants to revert back or maintain maximum pressure and he needs to try to convince

north korea to take some steps towards denuclearisation and show a meaningful gesture so that the us can also move forward. this upcomg upcoming summit in many respects is going to be a lot more challenging for president moon than his first two summits. the international criminal court says it has the right to investigate the alleged deportation from myanamar of hundreds of thousands of rohingya muslims. the court made its decision just days after two burmese journalists were sentenced to seven years injail in myanamarfor breaking the official secrets act. wa lone and kyaw soe 0o had been investigating the killing of ten rohingya men in rakhine state. the wife of one of the reporters has been speaking to our myanmar correspondent, nick beake. translation: when i heard the seven—year sentence

i was devastated. i nearly went mad. it is so unjust. i did not expect this at all. i believed we would go home together as a family. he is innocent. he is a journalist doing his job. it is the only way the public finds out the truth. your daughter isjust three years old. what has she been saying about her dad? she says, "mummy, why doesn't daddy live with us? "is it because he does not love us?" it is painful for me to hear that. she's talking about it because she already understands what is happening. when she saw her father in handcuffs at court she understood. she used to ask the policeman, "why do you handcuff my daddy?"

then she'd say, "look, daddy, i can release you." i have no more tears to cry. no more tears. how can i describe it? ifeel like i have no more strength to cry. i can't cry any more, i have been crying so much. aung san suu kyi has the power, as head of the civilian government in myanmar, to free your husband and his colleague. what would be your message to her today? my husband is innocent. my husband absolutely would never harm his country. he felt crushed when he heard the judge say he'd harmed the country. i also feel the same. miss aung san suu kyi, my husband respects you so highly.

he is always proud of you. my husband always defends you when you're criticise. my husband always defends you when you're criticised. he admires you so much, he sees you like a mother. do you have faith that aung san suu kyi will listen to what you're saying and bring your husband home? i believe she will. 100%. i believe my husband will be freed and that she will be the one who releases him, that she will allow him to return to his family. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: tributes for an icon — the legendary film star burt reynolds has died aged 82. also on the programme:

he's known as japan's 0skar schindler, now the man who helped save six thousand jews from the nazis is to be the subject of a majorfilm. freedom itself was attacked this morning, and freedom will be defended. the united states will hunt down and punish those responsible. bishop tutu now becomes the spiritual leader of 100,000 anglicans here, of the blacks in soweto township, as well as the whites in their rich suburbs. we say to you today, in a loud and a clear voice, enough of blood and tears. enough! translation: the difficult decision we reached together was one that required great and exceptional courage. it is an exodus of up

to 60,000 people, caused by the uneven pace of political change in eastern europe. iam free! this is newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm babita sharma in london. —— kasia madera. our top stories: president trump is under attack from inisde the white house, but close aides have denied writing an anonymous article in the new york times that slammed his presidency. there's beenjoyful scenes in india after the supreme court ruled that gay sex is no longer a criminal offence. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the japan times front page lead is on the hokkaido earthquake that reached the maximum seven onjapan‘s

seismic intensity scale. the quake centered east of the city of tomakomai, and was felt strongly in hokkaido's capital of sapporo. the straits times reports a speech by prime minister lee hsien loong saying singapore has developed its own variation of chinese culture. he said it was an identity that resonated with chinese—singaporea ns as well as singaporeans of other races. and the new york times has a front page feature on the singer cher. she had just spent several hours in a recording studio putting the final touches on dancing queen, her latest album, inspired by her return to the big screen in the movie musical mamma mia! here we go again. that brings you up to date with some of the papers. many thanks, sharanjit.

the remarkable story of chiune sugihara, the japanese vice—consul to lithuania during the second world war, is being turned into a feature film. known as japan's 0skar schindler for helping to save 6,000 jewish people from nazi persecution, mr sugihara defied his government by issuing more than 2,000 transit visas to jewish families. his extraordinary achievement will be turned into a full—length feature film, all down to a documentary called sugihara survivors. earlier, i spoke with sugihara survivors' award winning writer and director, junichi kajioka. mr chiune sugihara was a japanese

diplomat in lithuania in 1940, and at a time when no escape route from europe forjewish people. and then he issued transit papers to japan, even though the japanese government officially didn't allow to do this. and, as a result, he saved so many people's lives. it's an incredible story for me. so, as a filmmaker, i wanted to capture this story, and make it a film. well, we heard from one of those survivors, and it's just remarkable. it's... how many people now have descended from the people that mr sugihara had helped to escape. yes, so many people now around the world. and then i was so inspired by this story by the bravery of his action,

so i'd like to go and make a feature film, and then, you know, tell this story to the world. it's phenomenal. he's been compared to the japanese 0skar schindler, and understandably so. let's hope that your feature film will get his name absolutely out there. junichi, you not only direct, you also act as well, and i know you've got a lot of enthusiasm for the second world war in the sense of its history, and the diplomatic relations between the two warring sides. tell me a little bit more about a film that you made about imphal, the battle of imphal, in which 50,000 people lost their lives, but again, it's not a very well—known story. no. the battle was between british and japanese forces in india, in the north—east of india, called the manipu. and then these people went to war,

and so many people died. actually, this short film, based on one japanese person, masao hirakubo. he was the recipient of an 0be by the queen, and i know this story of. i wanted to capture this story to tell to the world. the hollywood actor, burt reynolds, has died at the age of 82. he died in hospital in florida after suffering a heart attack. from los angeles, james cook reports. i thought they'd surely kill us! they would have. they would have for sure. burt reynolds in deliverance, taking on the wilderness and its murderous inhabitants. the embodiment of the macho american. oh, my god!

he even did his own stunts despite nearly drowning filming this. who's indian — your father or your mother? reynolds made his name in westerns like navajojoe, which played on his own reputed... you're a navajo, aren't you? ..and disputed cherokee roots. what's your name? joe. he became a hollywood heartthrob. now, naturally we're going to try to get away with as much as possible... and he did, although he said he regretted posing naked for cosmopolitan. what do you do besides drive fast? smokey and the bandit was classic reynolds — one long car—chase. but drinking, womanising and spending took a toll on his reputation and his fortune, and by 1996, he was bankrupt. you come into my house, my party, to tell me about the future? boogie nights revived his

reputation, with an oscar nomination for his role as a porn film director, although he hated making the movie. well, career—high was when i got nominated for that film, and the career—low was when i couldn't get a job. and that was not too long before that. i was having a rough time. burt reynolds said he regretted not taking more serious roles, but perhaps it didn't matter. his memoir ended with the line, "nobody had more fun than i did." remembering the actor, burt reynolds. you've been watching newsday. i'm kasia madera in london. and i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. stay with us.

coming up: choppy pork supply in china? beijing scrambles to contain swine flu, we'll see what impact the pig—killing virus has on the meat industry. now, sharanjit, seeing as we're presenting newsday together today, this story about gender equality seems like an appropraite way to end the show. the world surf league has just announced it's introducing equal prize money for men and women from the start of next year. and sharanjit, the reaction has been intense. six—time world champion stephanie gilmore said the decision had given her goosebumps. what an excellent way to end the programme. from all the newsday team. thanks for watching. goodbye. hello, good morning. the details for this weekend

still look a little uncertain. things are more straightforward, though, for friday. a lot of the rain and earlier thunderstorms have been fading away. skies have been clearing, which is why it's been turning quite chilly out there, and it'll feel a little cooler for many places with a north—westerly breeze, but for the most part it'll be dry. there's going to be some areas of rain still around, very close to this area of low pressure that's in the north sea. this is where we'll see most of the rain, so perhaps northern parts of scotland, eastern scotland for a while, and the north—east of england. maybe a little bit of rain heading towards the wash, but for the most part, this rain will move its way out into the north sea. one or two showers coming in on that north—westerly breeze, patchy cloud bubbling up, still some sunny spells, and most places will have a dry day. it may feel a little warmer across the northern half of the uk with some sunshine, but a little cooler in the south, temperatures not really making 20 degrees. into the evening, a lot of that cloud melts away. temperatures fall away, and then we've got increasing cloud coming in from the atlantic. and this is the start of the uncertainty — how far north or south that

rain is going to get. but it should be a milder night on friday night into saturday morning. but across england and wales, it looks like we're going to see cloud and a spell of rain. that rain could affect southern parts of northern ireland and southern scotland for a while. it's more likely that southern counties of england should see very little, ifany, rain. and across the northern half of scotland, this is where we'll see the best of the sunshine. those temperatures not changing very much, 17—19 degrees. uncertainties arise because we've got a chain or a string of weather fronts sort of buckling their way across the uk. and if there's a bit more amplification to that buckling, so the rain goes a little bit further north, which it looks like doing for sunday. but a lot of that rain will peter out through the day. we'll see a bit more sunshine developing, with some showers continuing across the northern half of scotland. most places in the afternoon may well be dry, and there's a warming trend for england and wales, with temperatures 21 or 22 celsius. as we head into next week, there's a strengthening jet that's propagating across the atlantic. that's going to pick up areas of low pressure, these weather fronts too, and steer them towards the uk. it looks like it's going to be more north—western parts of the uk which will see the wet weather

into the early part of next week. that rain beginning to gather during the second half of the day. one or two showers ahead of it, but some sunny spells as well. it should be a bit warmer too, temperatures 22 or 23 degrees. and that warming trend continues across the south—east into tuesday and wednesday, temperatures peaking at 2a or 25 degrees. again, towards the north—west, there'll be more cloud, stronger winds and rain at times. i'm kasia madera with bbc news. our top story: several top us officials have denied that they're the author of a damning anonymous attack on president trump. mr trump described the writer as "gutless". there's fierce speculation over who's responsible, with the vice—president among those to deny any involvement. celebrations in india, after the supreme court ruled that gay sex is no longer a criminal offence. 0ne judge said that she believed "history owes an apology" to lg bt people. and this story is being viewed

many times on bbc.com. once again, there has been an outpouring of love online for the cranberries' lead singer, dolores 0'riordan, after a coroner released details of the 46—year—old's death. according to the inquest, 0'riordan died by drowning due to alcohol intoxication. that's all from me. stay with us on bbc world news.