i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: pulled from the rubble after indonesia's earthquake. rescuers are in a race against time, with the death toll now 1,300 and rising. police are struggling to keep control, as thousands grow increasingly desperate. here in palu, emotions are running high, as survivors are still struggling to get hold of basic supplies like food and water. i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: richer, stronger, and more authoritarian. we have a special report on china's rise, and its changing relationship with the west. and farmers‘ fury in india. agricultural workers clash with police in the capital, delhi, as they demand more financial support. good morning. it is 1:00am in london, 8:00am in singapore, and also in the indonesian city of palu, where there is a race against time to reach survivors of the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

more than 1,300 people are known to have died, and that number is still rising. the bbc‘s mariko 0i is now in palu, and starts our newsday coverage. we arrived late afternoon yesterday. we drove from the city of makassar, which is in the south of the island. it took us about 30 hours, a lot longer than expected, because towards the end for about 200 km we had to be exported in by the police. it was a huge convoy of probably 50 cars and trucks, bringing all of the essential supplies, like food and water, and that's because of reported looting. i'm not sure i feel comfortable calling them looters, though, because these are survivors that are so desperate to get hold of essential needs, like water, which haven't been able to get hold of all weekend, many of them. tens of thousands of them are homeless. we slept outside yesterday due

to fear of after—shocks. there have been hundreds of them since friday's deadly earthquake. in fact, while we were waiting to come on air, we actually felt one ourselves. hospitals, as you can imagine, are overwhelmed as well. my colleaguejonathan head has been to palu, as well, and has been speaking to some of the survivors. three days under the ruins of an office building, but he is alive. few of the victims have been as lucky as this 38—year—old man, pulled out after a three—hour rescue operation. many more are still buried in these impossible mountains of rubble. in the city centre, they are trying to open some of the blocked roads. but, from the air, you can see what the indonesian government is up against. this is a village, which was literally swallowed by the liquefying ground churned up by the earthquake. and, here in patobo,

they were hit by a mudslide. sometimes it seems the city has been hit by a whole series of catastrophes, notjust the earthquake and the tsunami, but in this neighbourhood a sea of mud that fell down the mountain and has buried all of the houses right up to halfway, and some of the inhabitants, too. this man has come back with his youngest son to check what is left of his home. they had a narrow escape. "the mud came down right after the earthquake," he told me. three or four minutes later, he and his familyjust ran with only the clothes they were wearing. he and his neighbours have salvaged what they can, but it isn't much. they need everything, and they're not getting it yet. so palu's inhabitants are taking matters into their own hands. here, trying to break into a small supermarket,

and then being driven back by police officers who seemed afraid of being overrun. one hour later, though, the police relented, and the crowd poured into the shop. they did make a token effort to stop non—essential items being looted, but a government unable to help most of these earthquake victims cannot really stop them helping themselves. the first real sign of order we saw — this extraordinary line for petrol, each bottle with its own queue number, while its owners sit in the shade for the long hours they will have to wait. jonathan head, bbc news, palu, indonesia. that's jonathan head reporting from palu.

as we drove in, i have to say we were getting a little nervous, becausejonathan told us that there were some clashes between the police and local residents. but as we drove in, it felt fairly calm, and it seems quite peaceful this morning, though we were kind of feeling a bit of a shake, and people started to look rather nervous around us, as well. and of course, there's also that smell that you can observe, that thousands of people definitely died. that even though mass burials have been taking place, that bodies are still lying around in the city. rico. and mariko, more than 1,300 people have lost their lives in this devastating earthquake and tsunami, and according to the united nations, more than 200,000 people urgently need help. a lot of families have lost their loved ones. how are they trying to trace them, amidst this chaos? rico, honestly, it's the most basic method.

literally just walking back there, you know, trying to get rid of the rubble with your own hands, trying to look for your loved ones. because it has taken days to get heavy machinery to lift all of those rubbles up. and we met one local resident from here who was actually in makassar at the time, driving for hours. he knew that one of his family members was dead, and he was driving for hours to find out what happened to the rest of the family. it is these huge personal tragedies we have been hearing, also talking about potential clashes that they had huge with the police. i should also add that during the day it gets unbearably hot, and for those who just lost their loved ones, without being able to get food and water, it is quite understandable that people would get

a little irritable, as well. many residents are falling ill due to the lack of necessities. is there a concern about the risk of infection? i think it's fair to say that that is always a concern in these kinds of natural disasters. there is no running water, there is no electricity. when the sun set last night, the entire city was pitch—black. and you forget what it's like, don't you? we're using water from the swimming pool of a hotel to wash our clothes, and use it as a bathroom. so there is always that concern, and that's why the urgency is definitely on to get those basic supplies into the city. of course, the local authorities have been trying very hard. we saw, in that convoy that we were escorted in with, there were all sorts of supplies being brought in. but local residents that we've been speaking to say they haven't been

able to get hold of them, and most of them haven't. officials in indonesia say they have now reached all four badly affected districts on the island of sulawesi, and that help is starting to arrive. international assistance is also on the way. britain has announced it will send a transporter plane full of aid, to arrive in indonesia on thursday. 0ur correspondent hywel griffith reports from the city of makassar. desperate for help after days without food, when the aid convoy finally arrived at this camp near donggala, it was "grab what you can." shelter and supplies are getting to some of the 60,000 people forced from their homes, but thousands more are out of reach, with roads turned to rubble. naturally, indonesia's people want to help too. they have been donating boxes of food, water, mountains of clothes. the only problem is getting

it to those in need. with the roads impassable, all this will somehow have to be put on a boat and sailed to the north of the island. it is a frenetic, heartfelt response, but some of these volunteers also feel frustrated. we need more help from the government, because we are human. we need all the help we can get. more help is coming, slowly. the indonesian authorities admit they were not well prepared. it's not impossible to prepare for disasters like this, but it is very difficult. one of the frustrations for the humanitarian sector is that disasters are treated as surprising events, to which we all have to respond. whereas actually, we mostly know where disasters take place. every aid flight which leaves this air base has returned carrying people fleeing the disaster zone. some clutch their only possesions,

others hold onto the hope that missing relatives will be found. this woman told us her two—year—old niece hasn't been seen since friday. "she's too young to speak," she says. the only words she knows are mum and dad. the agony some here feel cannot be quelled, but they need their nation, and the world, to support them. hywel griffith, bbc news, on sulawesi. the pentagon says it has received mail which, according to initial tests, contains the deadly poison ricin. 0ne envelope sent to the pentagon was addressed to defence secretaryjim mattis. 0fficials says the fbi are now investigating. ricin is highly toxic, and exposure to it can lead to death. gary 0'donoughue in washington has more. well, we believe that these were discovered at a mail—sorting facility on the main pentagon site, which is just about 20 minutes from where i'm talking to you now, just outside washington, dc. it is a huge site.

something like 25,000 people work there each day, and these two packages were discovered. we understand one of them was addressed to the secretary of defence, jim mattis, the other to the head of naval operations. they did not get inside the main building. they have been taken away by the fbi for analysis, and my understanding is that building is still under quarantine. the pentagon is saying there are no injuries at this stage so far, but they're waiting for the results of the fbi investigation. of course, if it turns out to be ricin, which is highly, highly poisonous, if it turns out to be that, they will be trying to find out who sent it. borisjohnson has savaged theresa may's brexit plans, describing them as a constitutional outrage. the former british foreign secretary said the chequers proposals would cheat voters and leave the uk humiliated. he was speaking at the conservative

party conference in birmingham. this is the moment to chuck chequers. applause. to scrap the commission's constitutionally—abominable northern ireland backstop... applause. to use the otherwise redundant and miserable implementation period to the end of 2020 to negotiate the super canada fta, free—trade agreement. to invest in all of the customs procedures that we will need to ensure continued frictionless trade, and to prepare much more vigorously than hitherto on coming out on wto terms. in a bbc interview, theresa may said she was cross with borisjohnson, in particular over what she called his desire to tear up the british government's guarantee to people in northern ireland. there are one or two things that boris has said that i am cross about. he wanted to tear up our guarantee to the people of northern ireland. northern ireland is part of the united kingdom. you know, we are all,

he and i, all members here of the conservative unionist party. that is because we believe in the union of the united kingdom. northern ireland is part of that union, and we have a guarantee for the people of northern ireland, and we are upholding that. 0ur chequers plan does that. it's the only plan on the table at the moment that does. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: tractors take to the streets of delhi, as indian farmers demand more support and subsidies from the government. also on the programme: a more powerful, more assertive china. our world affairs editor reports on the changing face of a nation. in all russia's turmoil, it has never come to this. president yeltsin said the day would decide the nation's destiny. the nightmare that so many people had feared for so long is playing out its final act here.

russians are killing russians in front of a grandstand audience. it was his humility which produced affection from catholics throughout the world, but his departure is a tragedy for the catholic church. israel's right—winger, ariel sharon, visited the religious compound, and that started the trouble. he wants israel alone to have sovereignty over the holy sites — an idea that's unthinkable to palestinians. after 45 years of division, germany is one. in berlin, a million germans celebrate the rebirth of europe's biggest and richest nation. this is newsday on the bbc.

i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm babita sharma in london. our top stories: the united nations says about 200,000 people in indonesia need urgent help following the devastating earthquake and tsunami. more survivors have been pulled from the rubble as the death toll rises to more than 1300. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. first to singapore's straits times, which leads on plans for public services, but there's plenty of coverage of our top story, as the indonesia tsunami death toll passes 1,300. in the south china morning post, a large graphic illustrates what it calls the "near miss" between us and chinese warships in the south china sea. and in wednesday morning's financial times, the news that

amazon is raising the minimum wage for its uk and us workers. the company founderjeff bezos says the group has "listened" to critics. the —— lures to the papers. the —— lures to the papers. for months china and the united states have been —— lures. —— those. for months china and the united states have been engaged in a bitter battle over trade and tariffs. the accusations have been followed by swift retaliation and it's added to concern over beijing's ever bolder military moves in the south china sea. the bbc‘s world affairs editorjohn simpson has been reporting from china for thirty years and has returned to assess the latest developments in this special report. in the breathtaking setting of the great wall, a ukrainian model poses for a british fashion photographer. still, it is the dress that is the centre of attention, and that is chinese—designed. yes, china is open to the world, but increasingly, on china's own terms. the wall was built to keep the outside world at arm's length.

now, the long centuries of isolation are over. today, everything here is about outreach. china is building an immense new transport network, the belt and road initiative, to spread its goods and influence worldwide. yue kexing is a small cog in this vast project, working on a new airport in chengdu. translation: i feel extremely excited, and ifeel the weight of responsibility on my shoulders. i understand too, for the country's development, we need to make personal sacrifices. 0ne sacrifice is that he is separated from his daughter, yiling. she is in africa, working on a new airport for zambia,

part of the belt and road initiative. it can increase the infrastructure in china. i think it is win—win, two winning things. still, as chinese technology starts to become dominant, the west increasingly sees china as a threat. this intricate dance for 100 driverless cars was staged by china's rival to google, baidu. and now, baidu is trying out a driverless bus. yet baidu's president insists that china isn't a threat. china is a power, it is a positive force of the world. and i think the us needs to understand that, and the world needs to understand that. for companies like baidu, of course we thrive in china, but also we would like to be a global player. for decades now, china has been biding its time,

getting quietly richer and stronger. now, though, it feels the moment has arrived. a year ago, over there in the great hall of the people, xijinping, who is leaderfor life if he chooses to be, committed china to becoming a world leader in innovation, in influence, and in military power. what he didn't add was that china is also becoming far more authoritarian. my local producer shows me what happens if you try to text the name of a government critic on social media. i'm going to say we would like to arrange an interview. yes, that has come through. ok, now put his name. see what happens when you try to do that. you have sent it, but it has not come through. no. so it is blocked. yet, even though he is constantly

monitored, i managed to meet up with another dissident, li datong, a journalist who recently wrote an open letter strongly critical of president xi. translation: currently, under xijinping, power is becoming more and more concentrated. the country will be more a tyranny. there will be more stamping on the rule of law. the outlook is completely pessimistic. the problem is that china's values are so different from those of the west. it demands total obedience to the state, and resents any outside criticism, though china insists it is no threat to the west. what does it all come down to? is china the west's friend, or potential enemy? well, it is too rich and too inclined to flex its muscles to be an easy friend, yet it is not so much a foe as a competitor. the trouble is, history shows that competition,

unchecked, can have a dangerous habit of turning really nasty. john simpson, bbc news, on the great wall. police in india have used tear gas and water cannons in clashes with tens of thousands of protesting farmers. they're demanding more government support, including cheaper electricity and fuel. james clayton reports from delhi. some of these farmers have walked a long way, and they are angry. they are protesting to the government, in a plea for more financial assistance and subsidies for farmers. they didn't have tanks, but they did have tractors, as they attempted to get into the centre of delhi. police stopped them on the outskirts

of the city using water cannon and teargas. the local police used what they could to protect themselves, and had a clear message for the protesters. translation: please don't try to cross over the barricades and enter new delhi. emergency law, which prohibits gatherings, is imposed now. our main objective is that everything should continue in a peaceful manner. the heated exchanges came amid claims from farmers that they are struggling to make ends meet. translation: who will the farmers speak to about their issues? we have chosen a government, but we can't tell them about our problems. then who do we tell? do we go to pakistan or bangladesh? the government has said they will listen to the farmers‘ demands. with a general election next year, prime minister modi will be keen to placate agrarian workers. many of the protesters came from the state of uttar pradesh, with a population of 200 million people. the prime minister can ill afford to ignore their concerns. a scientist who pioneered the use

of lasers has become the first woman to win the nobel prize for physics in more than fifty years. donna strickland from canada shares this year's award with a frenchman, and an american. 0ur science correspondent victoria gill has the story. 2018 nobel prize in physics... the ultimate scientific accolade, and professor donna strickland is only the third woman ever to have won a nobel prize in physics. she and her fellow winners were honoured for what the nobel committee called groundbreaking inventions in laser physics. professor strickland devised a way to use lasers as very precise drilling or cutting tools. millions of eye operations are performed every year with these sharpest of laser beams. how surprising do you think it is that you are the third woman to win this prize?

well, that is surprising, isn't it? i think most — i think that's the story that people want to talk about, that why should it take 60 years? there's so many women out there doing fantastic research, so why does it take so long to get recognised? here at oxford's department of nuclear physics... physics still has one of the largest gender gaps in science. one recent study concluded that, at the current rates, it would be more than two centuries until there were equal numbers of senior male and female researchers in the field. not only is this great for women, it's great for early career researchers. that you can make discoveries and inventions that can change the world, and you can do that at any point in your career, and it doesn't matter what background or gender you are. the last woman to win a physics nobel was german—born maria goeppert—mayer, in 1963, for her discoveries about the nuclei of atoms. before that, it was marie curie, who shared the 1903 prize with her husband, pierre. this year's winners hope that breaking the drought will mean

the focus in future will be on the research, rather than the gender of the researcher. you have been watching newsday. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm babita sharma in london. that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. hello. the rather warm for the time of year and humid air that became established across wales and england on tuesday will, in the day ahead, spread across northern ireland and scotland. it will feel noticeably warmer here. behind this weather front, a warm front, the leading edge of milder air. but that's coming with plenty of cloud, and to start wednesday it's a damp, and drizzly, and cloudy, misty, murky start across many parts, western parts, especially coasts and hills. it will be clear overnight in scotland and eastern england. there will be a chill around first thing, but the cloud will thicken here as we go on through the morning, which leaves us during wednesday with a good

deal of cloud around. a few bright and sunny spells here and there, but still, along into the hills, you could see a lot of patchy light rain and drizzle into western scotland and northern ireland. more especially, those outbreaks of rain affecting western and northern parts of scotland, the more substantial bursts of rain possible here at times. still with a noticeable breeze here, but not as windy as it was on tuesday, and particularly where you get to see some occasional sunshine, it will feel quite warm for the time of year, quite humid. and these temperatures are higher in northern ireland and scotland compared to tuesday. now, as we run on through wednesday evening, wednesday night and into thursday morning, there are some breaks in the cloud. now, you might think some of it is going to drop away, but they won't, really, because remember this quite warm and humid air mass established across the uk. actually, it's quite warm for wednesday into thursday. the chance for a few fog patches developing the further south you are in england and wales, through a centre of high pressure, where there's really not much breeze at all. again, some moisture in the air, it's humid.

and then an approaching weather front on thursday will shake the weather up a bit in scotland and northern ireland once again, as we see some outbreaks of rain moving in. later in the day, that could reach as far south as north—west england and north wales, with a freshening breeze. but for many southern and eastern parts on thursday, once any fog lives away, we get to see some sunny spells, and again temperatures are a good few degrees above normal for the time of year. i want to show you this weather front as we go through thursday into friday. it stalls through the middle part of the uk, and off of that you get the blues moving in. it will feel cooler and fresher across much of scotland. sunny spells, one or two showers. the front moving through southern scotland, more especially northern england and wales, with cloud and outbreaks of rain, and south of that weather front, you still have the rather warm and humid air. so for friday, a bigger range of temperatures. this weather front will clear away south—eastwards over the weekend, lingering with some rain for parts of england and wales on saturday. may still be getting some rain into south—east england on sunday, we'll keep you updated on that. once it's gone, though, it brightens up, but it's much cooler for all.

i'm babita sharma with bbc world news. our top story: a desperate scramble for food and aid after indonesia's earthquake. the un says about 200,000 people urgently need help. more than four days after the earthquake and tsunami struck, authorities and aid workers are struggling to coordinate their response. more survivors have been pulled from the rubble, as the death toll increased to more than 1,300 people. in one place, more than 100 people are reported to have been buried alive when a river of mud flowed through their village. and in other news this hour: the british prime minister, theresa may, has told the bbc she is angry with borisjohnson after the former foreign secretary launched another attack on her brexit plan. in what has been seen as a direct challenge, he called the plan a cheat, dangerous, and unstable. that's all. stay with bbc world news. thresa may has insisted that the uk

would have full control