i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: china's president says the relationship with russia is more important than ever, as they hold joint millitary exercises for the first time. america's east coast prepares for hurricane florence. the category four storm heads towards the carolinas, with winds of 225 km/h. i'm rico hizon in london. also in the programme: india's supreme court dismisses an appeal to stop forest rangers killing a tiger blamed for the deaths of several people. and cooking up a storm. singapore's bid to seek unesco recognition for its street food culture stirs up the fury of some malaysian chefs. good morning.

it is 8:00am in singapore, 1:00am in london and 7:00am in siberia, where russia claims to have launched what it says is the largest military exercise in its history, and for the first time, china isjoining in. previously, they have posed as enemies in drills, but their troops will now be partners. china's xijinping said the relationship with russia was more important than ever, at a time of global uncertainty. richard galpin reports. these are military exercises on an epic scale. russia is claiming more than 30,000 tanks and other armoured vehicles are taking part, along with 300,000 troops. it is also claiming 1,000

aircraft are involved, and a large part of the navy. the kremlin has not put on a show of strength like this for more than 30 years, when the soviet union and the cold war both existed. and also taking part here at this command centre in eastern siberia are these chinese officers, a sign of the deepening relationship between the two countries. this major general describes the joint exercises as strategic, co—ordinated, real combat, demonstrating their cooperation. the chinese contingent of these exercises, although significant, is comparatively small, with around 3,000 soldiers taking part. but at the same time, president putin has been meeting with the chinese leader, xi jinping, at an economic forum also in the far

east of russia, all this bolstering the sense the two countries are growing closer together. while both countries have an interest in demonstrating their growing military capabilities, for russia these exercises seem to be a practice for mass mobilisation, and how to shift their forces quickly across the country — a message perhaps to nato countries, the kremlin justifying the exercises because of what it calls aggressive and unfriendly attitudes towards russia. let's take a look at some of the day's other news: commemorative events have been held in new york and in washington to mark the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. ceremonies were also held at the 9/11 memorial plaza on the world trade center site in new york city. a us flag was unfurled from the roof of the pentagon in washington. it was deadliest foreign attack ever on us soil, killing 2,996 people.

president trump spoke at the flight 93 national memorial in shankville, pennsylvania, where passengers on united flight 93 are thought to have charged the cockpit to stop the attackers. a piece of america's heart is buried on these grounds. but in its place has grown a new resolve to live our lives with the same grace and courage as the heroes of flight 93. this memorial is now a message to the world. america will never, ever, submit to tyranny. also making news today: the party of brazil's former president

luiz inacio lula da silva has decided to drop him as its candidate in next month's elections. fernando haddad, a former sao paolo mayor, is expected to stand in his place. lula has been the frontrunner in the polls for months, despite currently serving a 12—year jail sentence for taking bribes. the former malaysian prime minister najib razak has released a letter that he says will clear his name regarding a $100 million donation he received from a saudi ruler. mr razak has been charged with theft after millions of dollars earmarked for a state investment fund were found in his personal bank account. he has denied the charges. the wife of pakistan's ousted former prime minister nawaz sharif has died of cancer in london, while her husband and daughter were in prison. kulsoom nawaz was 68. she was elected as an mp ilast year after standing in for her husband. nawaz sharif and his daughter maryam

were jailed for corruption. a court in bangladesh has once again denied bail to an internationally acclaimed photographer arrested last month during mass protests over road safety. shahidul alam was detained on 5 august on charges of spreading rumours and false information against the government. he had criticised the government crackdown on the student demonstrations in a television interview and on facebook. his detention and that of dozens of other activists has sparked an international outcry. pro—whaling nations have blocked an attempt to create a whale sanctuary in the south atlantic. the proposal failed to get enough votes at a fractious meeting of the international whaling commission in brazil. environmental campaigners are outraged. the pro—whaling nations ofjapan, iceland, and norway led the vote against creating a sanctuary. around a million people have taken part in a huge pro—independence

demonstration in barcelona to mark catalonia's national day. it is the first such event since separatist politicians were thwarted in their bid to declare catalan independence from spain last year. that was ruled illegal by spain's constitutional court. the us federal emergency management agency has ordered more than a million people in coastal areas of north and south carolina to leave their homes, as hurricane florence bears down on the us east coast. this map shows the path the storm is expected to take when it makes landfall on thursday, with the two carolinas, along with virginia, likely to bear the worst. many are getting away from the coast, but some are not heeding the warnings. gary 0'donoghue reports. this is the calm before the storm,

a storm that is barrelling towards the carolinas with winds of up to 130 mph, expected to make landfall overnight thursday into friday. this storm is a monster. it's big, and it's vicious. it is an extremely dangerous, life—threatening, historic hurricane. more than1 million people have been ordered to leave coastal areas in both north and south carolina. some highways have been made one—way, to smooth the flow of hugely increased volumes of traffic. people don't understand that when they say it's time to evacuate, there's no emergency services, the restaurants are closed, there's nothing else open. you need to go back and get back to the mainland, so you've got some comforts. but, for those who have chosen to stay, it has been panicked rush to buy essentials for the coming days. right now, we're looking for water.

we've been to walmart and the shelves are clear, and then we stopped at walgreens, the shelves were clear, and so we decided we'd bypass and come to lowe's and get batteries. people's homes and businesses are endangered by florence, everyone doing what they can to protect against mother nature. taping up the windows before throwing boards over them, making sure that the top seals and side seals on the windows are nice and corked, so we don't have to worry about water dripping from the top. concern over the severe strength from florence has also meant the navy is moving ships out to sea, away from ports like norfolk and virginia, so they can sail away from the path of the hurricane and reduce the likelihood of being damaged. at a meeting in the white house this afternoon, the president was briefed by the director of fema. he said this would be the biggest storm in decades. the safety of american people is my absolute highest priority. we are sparing no expense, we are totally prepared,

we're ready. we're as ready as anybody‘s ever been. meteorologists say hurricane florence could bring a storm surge of up to 12 feet at the coast, and anywhere between 20 and 30 inches of rain, making severe flooding far inland a real threat. i'm joined now from hamilton, in bermuda, by toni waterman from the bermuda broadcasting company. thank you so much forjoining us. what kind of impact will hurricane florence have on bermuda? well, i rate now... we are about two hours away from florence's closest approach to the island, which is going to be about 300 nautical miles to the south of the island and you can notice in the last hour or so there has really been this uptick in there has really been this uptick in the wind speed. i was on my bike coming home from work, this is a way that most people get around, and their motor scooters, and it was one

of those really strengthen your arms and hold on tight could arise because the wind speeds have really picked up. but when you look at the actual impact, we are not expecting actual impact, we are not expecting a lot of rainfall. we are expecting some big sea swells, so right now the bermuda weather service is saying that to the south, as the storm passes, we could see waves building up to a height of 16 feet on the northern part of the island. we could see waves that touch about nine feet. so they have issued a small craft advisory asking people not to go out on the water. we have a government coming in at asking people to get their hurricane prepare at the skits together, so thatis prepare at the skits together, so that is going to include things like flashlights and batteries for those flashlights. —— preparedness. and having radios on hand in case they need to get emergency messages out to the public, having their first aid kits updated and also having medical supplies on hand. but the overall impact looks to be pretty minimalat overall impact looks to be pretty minimal at this point. and in anticipation of hurricane florence having an impact on bermuda, at least seven cruise ships that are

due their this week have been rerouted to avoid the potential impact. you are absolutely right there. we had seen a number of them turned away. bermuda is a huge port when it comes... there's a number of different ports for cruise ships that come in, there's dozens and dozens and dozens of these ships that coming in a very short timeframe. and unfortunately part of that happens during the hurricane season, that happens during the hurricane season, so a that happens during the hurricane season, so a number that happens during the hurricane season, so a number of them have been turned away. it was the norwegian escape, i believe, which was turned away and sent to halifax. there was another norwegian ship that was sent to florida and the bahamas. so these cruise ships are being rooted away, and that is because of these high winds and potentially very high waves that we are going to be getting —— routed a way. these keep safe. let's get more on our top story — those huge russian war games which are now underway, and are due to start in earnest on thursday. china, for the first time, is participating alongside russian forces in the week—long military exercise, which the kremlin is calling the biggest since the cold war. earlier i spoke to sam roggeveen,

director of the lowy institute's international security program in the australian capital, canberra, and he said he was sceptical about the actual scale of these military exercises. the figure of 300,000 russian troops has been — has been thrown around, i believe, mainly by the russian defence ministry. the experts that i'm reading on the russian military suggest that there might be a little bit of creative accounting going on there. you know, when one unit gets involved in the exercise, out of a division, they count the whole division. so i'd be a little sceptical about the overall scale of the exercise. all of that said, this is extremely significant. it's a large military exercise, and i think the chinese in particular gain a lot from this. the chinese have ambitions to be a world military power that's

on a par with the united states. the big disadvantage that they have is that they have no true allies. they can't learn a lot militarily from pakistan, they certainly don't have very much to learn from north korea, and so the only peer that they can really look to to measure themselves against and to learn from is the russians. so i think that they'll get a lot from this exercise. and of course, given the location of this military exercise, sam, it is in far—east russia, so this basically gives china the edge over the russians in this military exercise, and showing their prominence in the asia—pacific region. well, i think an exercise of this scale in that location probably couldn't have gone ahead without the chinese, because it would have been seen diplomatically by the chinese as, you know, a really unfriendly, even hostile act for the russians to stage exercises of this kind, in that part of russian territory, without any chinese involvement.

so i think this is a show of — you know, of unity on the part of the two of them, and a demonstration that the relationship is pretty good at the moment, with the russians also selling really top—flight weapons now, again, to china — something that was paused for a few years in the early 2010s, and has now resumed. you are watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: india's supreme court dismisses an appeal to stop forest rangers hunting down a tiger blamed for the deaths of several people. also on the programme: we take you on the gutter cruise, a lifeline for people living in a slum in the indian city of mumbai. 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's 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 rico hizon in singapore. i'm babita sharma in london. our top stories: russia stages what it claims is the biggest military exercises since the soviet era — and for the first time, chinese troops are joining in. america's east coast prepares for hurricane florence. the category four storm heads towards the carolina's — with winds of 225km/h hour. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. thanks to conservation efforts across india, the tiger population in india has steadily increased over the past 12 years. but the growing population and rapid deforestation means they come into conflict with villagers who live near the reserves. in the western state of maharashtra,

one tiger has been blamed for five deaths and india's supreme court has dismissed an appeal to stop forest rangers from killing it. shalu yadau has more from delhi. this is the first time at case like this has come up. last year, a court in the western state of maharashtra upheld an order to kill eight tiger who was blamed for four deaths. in the current case there is nothing to suggest that the tiger in question is responsible for the five deaths blamed on her. animal—rights activists in the court asked for a softer approach and argued that the tiger should be tranquillised and relocated. but the court dismissed their appeal, saying it would not interfere if the forest guards are forced to kill the tigers. the forest officials have told the bbc that they will try their best to tranquillise and captured the tigers first, but the petitioners say they do not trust their capability and expertise to do so and fear that the forest

officials might end up shooting her. india is home to one of the largest tiger populations in the world. even as their numbers have been on the rise, so are the cases of man—animal conflicts, mainly because human settlements keep getting closer to the animal reserves bcause of rapid deforestation. shalu yadau, bbc news, delhi. a makeshift raft has turned into a lifeline for people living in a slum in the indian city of mumbai. the ride costs just 2 rupees — or about 3 cents — and residents find it more convenient for crossing a polluted waterway. but the man behind this so—called ‘gutter cruise' fears the service will be shut down. now to a story that's stirring up cross—border controversy between singapore and malaysia. it's not geo—politics, but what some would consider far more important — food! singapore's bid to seek unesco recognition for its hawker street culture has been received with fury by some malaysian chefs, with one calling the move arrogant. hawker culture is famous in singapore.

it's people gathering in hawker centres where they can buy cheap food and drinks, and sit at communal no—frills tables. other items on unesco's list of cultural heritage include windmills in the netherlands, neapolitan pizza making in italy. that recognition was met by street parties earlier this year. and the beer culture in belgium, while many european nations have a love of beer, only in belgium can drinking it, be called a cultural experince. earlier i wasjoined in the studio by seth lui who is a food blogger here in singapore. i asked him if malaysia is right to be upset about singapore's attempt to seek international recognition for its hawker street culture. i share some heritage as well, my father is from malaysia. i have been to malaysia multiple times, of course. the food culture is very similar, as you said, we all came from similar route, came from china, we just happen to settle in different places. so the influences are all over the place, we go up and down, we share what we all know

and each country developed their own different styles. i don't think one is superior over the other, it is pretty similar. tell us little bit about this unesco stamp of approval, we know that singaporean hawker culture is famous internationally, does it need this stamp of approval from unesco and what does this bring it in terms of benefits? to me as a citizen, i don't think it is necessary. singapore hawker food is famous around the world. you don't really need someone to say you guys have been included in the unesco cultural award. we don't really need that, but it doesn't hurt to have this stamp of approval, which is probably what the singapore heritage board is going after. they have applied for it. it is interesting because there is a whole load of rules, it includes things like it has got to be something with visibility and awareness, reflect cultural diversity, measures to protect it

and another rule is that it has got to be nominated by the largest possible participation of the community. what is interesting is this need to protect it. a couple of years ago, a lot of the news centred around the fact that the old hawkers, a tough job with long hours, were retiring along with their traditional dishes, is that a concern, are we protecting and keeping this heritage? i guess it is more recognition, the second generation will start to take up what the older generation has done, but it is getting really difficult in this economy. rent is rising, labour cost is rising and i guess that this recognition it does help to give more leeway, as i said, recognition to the young hawkers to take up what their forefathers did. i'm sure all those tantalising shots of singaporean food, did it make you hungry? i am already starting to mission my chicken rice, my rendang and my chilli crab. but i can have it at midnight here. i am sure you miss it but you will be back with us. iam miss it but you will be back with us. i am singaporean and my mother is from malaysia and i know this

important difference between the food cultures, my favourite dish is roti chanai. hello there. a full uk weather forecast coming up in a moment, but first of all the latest on that massive hurricane that's heading towards the eastern side of united states. it is of course hurricane florence. it is a category for hurricane, sustained winds of 140 mph but is forecast to strengthen, with wind gusts getting up to 185 mph over the next 2a horus or so. it will make landfall friday morning in north carolina, but the effects will be felt up and down the mid—atlantic coast with the risk of flooding and those damaging winds as well. here in the uk, a cold front sinking its way slowly southwards today and that will have an effect

on the temperatures. yesterday we saw highs of 25 degrees in both london and exeter as well, but today we are looking at highs of around 18 degrees. a 7—degree celsius drop in temperature, not that it will feel cold, but feel a good deal cooler. this is how we have the weather over the next few hours for the early risers. a lot of cloud around and outbreaks of rain. always heaviest across north—east england to the north—west of wales as well, but there will be plenty of heavy showers working into north—west scotland over the next few hours, with a slice of clearer weather across northern ireland, northern england and eastern scotland. it's here where we will have those temperatures dipping down into single figures, mild further south, 15 degrees the low in london. looking at the weather picture through the rest of wednesday, our cold front sinks its way southwards, the rain becomes increasingly light and patchy, but there will probably some left over across parts of south—east england well into the afternoon. there'll be some blustery showers for western scotland, but in between, a slice of sunnier weather, but temperatures a good deal lower in the south, highs expected to reach 18 celsius. looking at the weather picture to wednesday evening and overnight, our rain clears away from south—east england.

heavy rain into the north—west of scotland, but there will be clear skies for the bulk of england and wales and it will be one of the cooler nights that we have seen so far this september, with temperatures across eastern parts of england around 3 or 4 degrees in the coldest areas. quite a chilly start of the day on thursday but there will be plenty of sunshine around here. a band of rain pushes southwards across scotland and northern ireland, weakening as it does so, just a few spots possible across cumbria to take us into the afternoon, but for many of us it is a dry day, showers again affecting western parts of scotland, though. temperatures in the sunshine, about 15 degrees for aberdeen and edinburgh, 21 degrees in london. bit more sunshine, so starting to feel warmer. reasonable sunshine across southern england as we head through the weekend, but there will be some heavy outbreaks of rain across the north—west of the uk this weekend. that is your weather. i'm rico hizon with bbc news. our top story: chinese president xijinping stresses the importance of his country's relationship with russia.

it comes as the two nations prepare forjoint millitary exercises for the first time. russia claims it will be the biggest military exercises since the soviet era, with 300,000 soliders taking part. america's east coast prepares for hurricane florence. the category four storm heads towards the carolina's, with winds of 225 kilometres an hour. over a million people have heeded a warning and evacuated coastal areas. and this video is trending on bbc.com. a stash of gold roman coins have been discovered during excavation work in a theatre basement in the northern italian town of como. all three hundred coins were perfectly preserved. they date back to around the fifth century. that's all. stay with bbc world news.