this is newsday. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: rescuers say time is running out for hope of finding more survivors after indonesia's earthquake and tsunammi. —— tsunami. translation: she often asks court where is my mum? where has my mother called? i where is my mum? where has my mother called 7 i tell where is my mum? where has my mother called? i tell her we still looking for her or your mother has gone on long journey. authorities struggle to get aid to some areas. many survivors are thirsty, hungry and have no shelter. here in palu, food and waterfinally trickling in. eight agencies has told us that arranging logistics, especially transportation, has been a major challenge. —— aid agencies. also on the programme: how did you get home? i don't remember. where is the place? i do remember. where is the place? i do remember. ino! —— i don't know.

president trump mocks the woman who accuses his supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh of sexual abuse, drawing criticism from democrats and republicans. a syrian man who's spent nearly seven months living in a malaysian airport is taken into police custody. good morning. it's 7am in singapore and also in the indonesian city of palu, where as each hour passes, hope is fading of finding anyone still trapped alive after last week's earthquake and tsunami. now the authorities have set a deadline of friday to find anyone still trapped under rubble. after that, they say there is little chance of finding survivors. at least 1,400 people are known to have died. for the latest, let's go to mariko oi, who's in palu. a lot of aid agencies are very

frustrated because they asked really to get aid to some areas and many survivors are thirsty, hungry and have nowhere to live. indeed. we have nowhere to live. indeed. we have been talking for days about the lack of food and water. i can tell you, though, that things are slowly changing. we are starting to see the city moving again. we saw people selling food on a shriek, we saw people queueing up for petrol inside the city instead of having to go out to get it. things are slowly moving. but the body recovery operation has been quite challenging. there are still many places that the authorities have not managed to get to, even in the city —— city centre of palu, the shopping centre behind us. of palu, the shopping centre behind us. they have finally managed to get a big truck with heavy machinery in

last night. we were here when they started clearing some of rubble and pretty much immediately after they found a body. it was 5pm on friday when the earthquake struck, so many people could have just work early, enjoying of shopping when the earthquake hit. so they might recover eve n earthquake hit. so they might recover even more bodies. that is why the authorities have been warning that the official death toll of 1400 is most likely going to rise. our correspondence jonathan had has visited an area which has been struck by mudslides, one of the other major disasters caused by the earthquake. —— jonathan head. —— jonathan head. even now, five days after the earthquake, the tsunamis and the mudslides, the damage wrought on this part of indonesia still has the power to shock. some buildings crumpled...

others were literally swallowed by mud. it was the mud that did for petobo, a neighbourhood to the east of the city. fields of rice, shaken loose by the earthquake, that poured down the hillside. it buried the mother and baby sister of fiona, not yet two years old, who was pulled from the mud by her older brother. she's being cared for by her aunt. translation: she often asks, "where's my mum?" "where has my mother gone?" i tell her we're still looking for her, or i say, "your mother has gone on a long journey." if she has a loud noise or a plane going overhead, she's scared. she's still traumatised. over here, it was even worse. a road, and all the houses along it, obliterated by mud. astonishingly, this cornfield has travelled more than a mile. and this mad jumble of wreckage is the remains of at least two villages. they scarcely know where to begin recovering the bodies of the victims. this was a christian study centre. there were 200 students

there when it was torn from its foundations. just try to imagine the terrible force that uprooted these front pillars of the church and toppled them over, and that flattened this massive concrete roof here. even now, they don't know how many victims may still be underneath, and all of this was dragged by the mudslide, from right over there, behind those palm trees. one of the students was martin's 17—year—old son, gabriel. he's already resigned himself to the near certainty of his death. "every parent hopes for a son", he said. "now i just want to recover his body, for a proper burial in my home town." the collective loss suffered by the people

of this city is incalculable. help is on the way now. it will be needed for a very long time. jonathan head, bbc news, palu, indonesia. more than 70,000 people have been displaced because of the disaster and now, thousands of people are trying to leave the island, heading to the airport. that has become somewhat of a makeshift hospital. our somewhat of a makeshift hospital. 0ur correspondence somewhat of a makeshift hospital. our correspondence reports from the airport here in palu. —— —— correspondent. they want a way out, but for many camped overnight at palu's airport, there's no prospect of leaving. after the tsunami, thousands flocked here, hoping to be airlifted. but five days on, rani and her family of 20 are still here, still waiting. she told me that they felt

the tremors continue. she's so worried another earthquake will come, she won't go inside the terminal, in case it collapses. and you can see why. inside, walls have fallen, the building has buckled. it may not look like it, but this airport is stilljust about able to function, despite bricks falling from the wall, broken glass, tangled metal over in the baggage hall. this is the only airport anywhere near the disaster zone, so it simply has to keep going. the airport has also become a makeshift hospital, using the medical aid that's been flown in, but there are reminders everywhere that the death toll is rising. in the middle of all this, commercial flights have resumed, check in done by hand. most likely... this man has tickets for his whole family to leave, afraid that law and order in the city has broken down. even the government was being attacked, and when you were driving into car, you are constantly in fear of living, because you don't really know what's going to happen next.

aid for those who remain is now getting through. tomorrow, shelter kits and solar lanterns will be flown from britain. many here, help can't come soon enough. hywel griffith, bbc news, at palu airport. and there is now a deadline for the end of the search and rescue efforts. it has been set this friday. that's right, according to the authorities, that is probably the authorities, that is probably the last day that they could possibly find survivors, which of course, is heartbreaking news for those who are still looking for their loved ones. there have been some happy stories that we have encountered that i want to share with you. we came across a surgeon who said that his wife was missing

for two days, he thought that she was probably dead and he was starting to look for her body. then when he got home, she was there, returned safely by a stranger and he told us how he felt like he was falling in love with her all over again. so there have been some happy stories, but of course many more sad stories. and that effort will continue at least until friday. the president has made his second trip to the disaster stricken areas, but he is being criticised by villagers from summer oh areas that he is focusing too much on palu and not in the villagers that are quite difficult to get into from palu. definitely that is a big concern because as you say, a lot of focus has been on palu, but there are many

smaller villagers that they haven't managed to get to. of course, indonesia is a big country, especially this part of the country, is very tricky to get to, as our guest was telling us earlier. so thatis guest was telling us earlier. so that is a major challenge, he has still promised to bring more age, electricity will be back in probably weeks, not days, he said because buyers out of seven electricity grids have been damaged by the earthquake. —— five out of seven. you can really feel the resilience of people as we go on, people started selling food, but also offering food for free when they have had very limited resources for the last five days, they have been really generous to us, which we were very struck by. thank you so much for joining very struck by. thank you so much forjoining us and please take care in palu. and we'll be hearing more from mariko on the humanitarian efforts in palu, later in this programme. before that, let's take a looks at some other news. the us secretary of state,

mike pompeo, has accused iran of abusing the international court ofjustice and using it for political ends. his criticism follows the court's demand for the us to allow iran to import food and medicine, despite sanctions imposed by president trump. he also announced that the us would be terminating a treaty with iran that regulates economic and consular ties between the two countries. we are disappointed that the court failed to recognise it has no jurisdiction to issue any order relating to the sanctions measures with the united states. which is doing its work on iran to protect its own essential security interests. malaysia's anti—corru ption agency has arrested the wife of the country's former prime minister, on suspicion of money laundering. rosmah mansor‘s husband, najib razak, was ousted in an election in may.

he has already been charged with corruption. mr najib is accused of stealing money from a government investment fund, charges which he denies. cristiano ronaldo has denied raping a woman in a us hotel room almost a decade ago. in a tweet, thejuventus forward wrote he had a "clear conscience" over the allegations. police in las vegas say they've reopened the investigation at the request of kathryn mayorga, who had previously filed a report with authorities shortly after the alleged incident. at a news conference a short while ago, ms mayorga's lawyer said the metoo movement had given her courage to come forward. the women who have stood up and disclosed sexual assaults publicly has given catherine a lot of courage

and has, to a great extent, enabled her to come forward and to file her civil complaint as well as going to the police department. —— kathryn. pope francis has publicly welcomed two chinese catholic bishops attending a synod for the first time in rome, after a landmark deal between china and the vatican. they represent a body created by the chinese government to administer the church. but hong kong's leading catholic cleric says the agreement on procedures for appointing bishops would not stop the suppression of christians in china. one of china's highest paid actors has been fined the equivalent of almost 130 million us dollars for tax evasion and other offences. fan bingbing disappeared injuly for over 100 days amid speculation that she had been detained by chinese authorities. she posted an open apology on social media on wednesday saying that she accepted the penalty and will be spared jail if she pays the fine. it was only last week that

president trump called dr christine blasey ford a very credible witness after she testified that supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh sexually assaulted her. but at a political rally last night there was a very different message as mr trump ridiculed dr ford's memory of events. the white house says he was only stating facts but some key republican senators are speaking out, calling the comments appaling. the bbc‘s north america editorjon sopel reports. for two weeks' now since christine blasey ford's accusations of sexual assault against brett kavanaugh emerged the white house has kept a tight lid on its response. indeed, the day after her distressing testimony the president was full of praise and respect for her. i thought her testimony was very compelling and she looks like a very fine woman to me. but last night at a rally

in mississippi that all changed. restraint, forget it. donald trump cracked his knuckles and was ready to fight. he mocked dr ford. "how did you get home?" "i don't remember." "how'd you get there?" "i don't remember." "where is the place?" "i don't remember." "how many years ago was it?" "i don't know." "i don't know..." cheering "i don't know!" "what neighbourhood was it in?" "i don't know." "where's the house?" "i don't know." "upstairs? downstairs?" "where was it?" "i don't know." "but i had one beer." "that's the only thing i remember." and a man's life is in tatters. a man's life is shattered. and trump supporters we spoke to at the rally were singing the same tune. if i was a victim like she says she was, you think i'm going to go to my politician? i'm going to go to authority. i think that something happened but i think she's got the wrong person. anybody can sound believable. if i sit here and tell you, "0h, poor me," i'm like, "oh, this happened to me..."

you sound good but you've got to have corroborating evidence. and despite the controversy his remarks have provoked there's no rolling back at the white house today. he's pointing out factual inconsistencies. do you have corroboration for her claims? have you found...? excuse me, can you fill in her memory gaps or her factual inconsistencies? that is part of the evidence gathering process in any hunt for truth. but this will be decided by senators on capitol hill and key republicans who will vote on the outcome were left uneasy. to discuss something this sensitive in a political rally is just not right. it's just not right. i wish he hadn't done it and ijust say it's kind of appalling. the vote, when it comes, will be tight. naturally all attention has focused on those republicans opposing brett kavanaugh. but in the opposite direction there are democrats in strongly republican areas facing re—election in a few weeks' time who might calculate their only chance of political survival is to vote for him. and in this town survival

tends to come first. all eyes are now on this building. fbi headquarters. investigators are reported to have finished their supplemental background check on brett kavanaugh. the report won't be published but each senator will be able to read a copy. on that basis they'll cast their vote and bring this torturous and profoundly divisive episode to a close. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the bizarre case of a syrian man who spent nearly seven months living in a malaysian airport. 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. welcome back.

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. our top stories: rescuers say time is running out for hopes of finding more survivors after indonesia's earthquake and tsunami. president trump mocks the woman who accuses his supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh of sexual abuse. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. starting with the straits times, the paper is leading with the huge earthquake and tsunami in indonesia. it has a picture of a village 10km from palu. it says the village of petobo, with its 700 households, was swallowed up and buried underground during the earthquake. next, the new york times has a story about the african national congress

in south africa. it says about 90 anc politicians have been killed in the past two years, and all of the assassination targets had one thing in common — they had spoken out against corruption in the party. and finally, the japan times, has a story about the winners of the 2018 nobel prize in chemistry. it features this picture of the three scientists — including frances arnold, who is only the fifth woman to ever win a nobel prize in chemistry. let's get more on our top story now. my colleague mariko oi is in palu and has been speaking to an aid worker with the organisation islamic relief. she asked him about the challenges facing its operations in the city. islamic relief has been here since

the last four days. and when we arrived we already have some challenges in terms of logistics. luckily, we brought some logistical items. so we have already distributed food, tarpaulins, generators for the people, because the situation is dark. i saw quite a number of people who are asking for food and also bore water. —— also bore water. it was lucky we could bring some items with us. you have been doing this kind of rescue operation at other disasters as well. what has been, in your view, the biggest challenge in palu?|j think a number of challengers i have spotted out here since i came here. the first is that coming this early

is not easy. i have been around for the last two days. a took a hercules, but they could not make it with the military, eight took a commercialflight. with the military, eight took a commercial flight. that took a commercial flight. that took a commercialflight. commercial flight. that took a commercial flight. psychologically, we are not really prepared. we had about looting, we heard about something happening on the ground. we need to prepare our psychological aspect also. but with my experience and the team also ready, we could come here. first, it is about logistics. it is not easy to find the logistics here. palu is actually in the middle, 18 hours. in the road it is ok. logistically, we come from further than that. logistics is an issue. the psychological situation for the people the company is another issue. i think this is

something different. in lombok, we have a team that, i saw many people they are, the humanitarian actors and also the local communities, they came with their aid, with their family they came back will stop but here we did not find it. the road is very empty. those are the things. also, electricity, it is a big challenge. it has been quite a while, almost a week. only some spots with light. most other areas are still dark. also the humanitarian workers are not easy to come. the logistics is not easy to find. electricity is there. and connection. and gasoline. it is quite complex here. that is why not many humanitarian organisations are coming here. the country director of the aid organisation islamic relief, nanang dirja, speaking

to my colleague mariko oi in palu. a syrian man who spent nearly seven months living in a malaysian airport has been removed and placed in police custody. hassan al—kontar‘s situation made headlines earlier this year after it emerged that he had been living in kuala lumpur international airport echoing the tom hank's movie, the terminal. he had left syria to avoid mandatory military service and when war broke out refused to go home. he had been seeking asylum in a third country. our reporter heather chen has been following the story. so right now he is currently in police custody in malaysia and he will be remaindered for the next 1a days. after which i understand that authorities are investigating his case and will be working with the embassy, the syrian embassy in malaysia to send him back home to syria. very interesting. everyone makes parallels with the movie of tom hanks. you met him several months ago. how did he get into this

situation? well, we first were introduced in april, when his story broke in march, but we kept in contact. he has been very consistent in telling me it's all about his dream to live as a free man and not as someone dream to live as a free man and not as someone who is an agent of war in syria. so that is basically his quest. he has been to ecuador and cambodia wanting to find a free light. obviously he was unsuccessful and he was stuck in malaysia. heather chen reporting. i'm rico hizon in singapore. stay with us. coming up — tech titans. john simpson has been talking to the president of china's largest search engine baidu and seeing why it's expanding into ai. goodbye. hello there. the weather for the next couple of days is looking

fairly benign before something a bit more active appears during the course of the weekend, with some pretty heavy persistent rain for some. the prototype as we head into thursday shows high pressure dominating the scene for most. this weather system will continue to encroach into the far north—west corner into the country to bring increasing wind, klatten man up wrecks of rain. the south, mainly dry bar the odd light shower around, early mist and fog which had cleared through the morning. much like wednesday it had been an break and some sunny wednesday it had been an break and some sunny spells. when flight across the south, turning stronger across the south, turning stronger across this north—west corner, where it will be cool. further south, given some sunshine, this warm air mass, it could make 17— 19 or perhaps 20 degrees. heading through thursday night, the weather front in the north—west sinks further southwards and comes to a halt across central part of the country. here it will be wet. to the north clear and quite cold. to the south, variable cloud and milder conditions. friday we will have a

3—way split. we continue to see this weather front through central areas. to the south of it, given some sunny spells, a game that mild air mass is going to be quite warm, temperatures around 20— 21 degrees. to the north of the weather front, scotland and northern ireland, largely dry but cooler. 10— 12 degrees. still some uncertainty on the weekend weather. it will collect is developing airroad low pressure will bring a speu airroad low pressure will bring a spell of very wet weather, primarily to england and wales, notjust scotla nd to england and wales, notjust scotland and northern ireland, but they should stay largely dry on saturday with the sunshine. it could be very wet across parts of england and wales, but equally central, southern, and eastern england will stop up to one inch and spots. it will be quite cool generally across the board. cross the far south—east we could see temperatures in the teens. on sunday, that area of low pressure pushes up into the new continent. a ridge of high pressure

bills. we could see a window of fine weather before the next weather system weather before the next weather syste m ma kes weather before the next weather system makes inroads across the north—west corner of the uk. meanwhile, a clearance across the south—east. winds picking up across the north—west. elsewhere it should be fairly light. in the sunshine it won't feel too bad. temperatures ranging from 12 to 15 degrees was at the weekend is going to be a mixed one. there will be quite a lot of rainfor one. there will be quite a lot of rain for some of us. there will be some spells of sunshine as well. it will not be a complete washout. i'm ben bland with bbc news. our top story: rescuers say time is running out for hopes of finding more survivors after indonesia's earthquake and tsunammi. at least 1,400 people are known to have been killed. authorities have set a tentative deadline of friday to find anyone still trapped under rubble. aid organisations are expressing frustration with the slow pace of the response. large areas hit by the disaster have not been properly reached. survivors are battling thirst

and hunger, with food and clean water in short supply. reports say indonesian soldiers have been ordered to fire on looters. and this story is trending on bbc.com. there's been strong criticism from democrats and republicans after donald trump has mocked the woman who accused his supreme court nominee of sexually assaulting her. he said christine blasey ford's memory of events was totally incomplete. that's all. stay with bbc news.