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. 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." 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. at eight agencies told us trickling in. at eight agencies told us that arranging logistics, especially transportation, has been a major challenge. also on the programme: "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."

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 8am 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 who are now on

the ground are frustrated because they are struggling to release supplies —— to get relief supplies to the remote areas. indeed, rico. the logistics has been a major challenge for those paid agencies, but at least we are seeing food and water trickling into the city. this morning, we saw people selling brea kfast, morning, we saw people selling breakfast, people queueing up to get petrol in the city of palu, instead of having to go outside to get it. things are slowly improving. at the same time, the rescue effort continues. as you mentioned, friday has been set as the deadline to find any survivors. there are many places that still people haven't been looking, including in the city centre of palu on here at the shopping maul. they finally managed to get that big truck with heavy

machinery last night, we were here when they started to clear the rubble and immediately after, they found a body. of course, at the earthquake hit at 5pm on friday where many people could have left work early to enjoy shopping. it is quite possible they could find more bodies inside and that is why the authorities continue warning that the official death toll could rise even further. of course, this wasn't just the earthquake, there were also mudslides. ourjonathan head visited the area that was affected either. —— affected items. —— affected by them. 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 as a result of the disasters and thousands of people are now trying to leave the island, heading to the airport, which has been shut for commercial flights until very recently. the airport has become somewhat of a makeshift hospital as well. 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 mariko, amidst all this tragedy and destruction, there have also been some stories of hope. indeed, rico. we have been telling you lot of tragedies and of course, very sad stories we have hearing about. at the same time, we have been really struck by the generosity of people here. have been struggling to get food and water, and it yet, as soon as they got it they started offering it to us as well. we also heard from a man he yesterday who thought his wife was missing, he could much gave up wife was missing, he could much gave up and thought he should look for a

body. when he returned home she was there, returned by a stranger. he told us that he felt like he was falling in love all over again. there have been some happy stories, of course, many more tragedies and as the deadline has been set for friday to look for survivors, that isa friday to look for survivors, that is a very heartbreaking situation to me who are still looking for their missing last ones. # situation for those who are still. —— the situation. villagers at dashing villagers in some remote areas have been complaining that the government complaining that the government is nowhere to be found? i think that is an issue that happens after every earthquake tsunami situation in indonesia. we can remember even back in 2004 that similar things happened and this

time again, a lot of attention on palu. a lot of small village' —— villagers along the way that had been devastated by this in army feel they are somewhat neglected because even getting to the city of palu is so difficult, you can imagine how ha rd so difficult, you can imagine how hard it is for us to visit those small villages. at the same time, the government will have a lot of other issues to in situ as well, including what we have been talking about, how the alarm system of the tsunami wasn't working before friday's earthquake, even though they were supposedly had lamented in 2004. -- they were supposedly had lamented in 2004. —— implemented. there will be questions to be answered. mariko, joining us from palu. we will be hearing more from her on the humanitarian efforts on the island later on newsday. 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. malaysia's anti—corruption 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 metoo movement and the women who have stood up and disclosed sexual assaults publicly has given kathryn 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. one of china's highest paid actors has been fined the equivalent 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 on tuesday 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 editor, jon 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. 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. live from singapore and the island of sulawesi in palu. 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. 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 tsunammi. president trump mocks the woman who accuses his supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh of sexual abuse. —— supreme court.

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 swalled up and burried underground during the eartquake. 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 international 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. and those are the papers. let's get more on our top story now. my colleague mariko oi is in palu, and has been speaking to the country director of 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. but luckily, we brought some logistical items here. so we have already distributed food, tarpaulins and also generators for the people, because the situation is dark. i saw quite a number of people who are asking for food and also for 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's been, in your view, the biggest challenge in palu? i think a number of challenges i have spotted out here since i came here. the first one is that coming to this area is not that easy. i've been around for the last two days. i took a hercules, but i couldn't make it with the military, so i took a commercialflight. psychologically, we are not really prepared. we heard about looting, we heard about something happening on the ground, so we need to prepare our psychological aspect also. but with my experience and with the team also readiness, 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 if the road it is ok. logistically, we come from further than that. logistics is an issue. the psychological situation of the people to come here is another issue. i think this is something different. in lombok, we have a team there, 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. but here, we didn't find it. the road is very empty. those are the things. also, infrastructure, electricity. electricity is a big challenge. it has been quite a while, almost a week. only some spots with light.

lucky for that, thanks to god for that. 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, 0k? it's quite complex here. that's 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. reporter heather chen has been following the story. so right now he is currently in police custody in malaysia and he'll be remanded

for the next 14 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 pa rallelisms with the movie of tom hanks, the terminal. 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 who is an agent of war in syria. so that is basically his quest. he's been to ecuador and cambodia wanting to find a free life, but bviously he was unsuccessful and he was stuck in malaysia. stuck in malaysia for seven months, how was he able to live at the

airport with no money? as you can imagine, he was mainly living off the kindness of strangers. a lot of aeroplane food left over and showering in the handicap toilet, and sleep was terrible. he brought me to show me his area where he slept, it was under the staircase in the airport and it was constant airport announcements and bright lights and he lost a lot of weight actually doing that. 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. great to have you with us on the programme. see you again soon. 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 and persistent rain for some. the pressure chart, 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 breeze, cloud, and outbreaks of rain. further south, mainly dry bar the odd light shower around, bit of early mist and fog which should clear through the morning. much like wednesday we should see the clouds thin and break and some sunny spells. the wind lighter 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 parts of the country. here it will be wet. to the north clear and quite cold. to the south, variable cloud and mild conditions. friday we will have a 3—way split. we continue to see this weather front through central areas, bringing outbreaks of rain to northern england and parts of wales. to the south of it, given some sunny spells, again 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 cool. 10—12 degrees. still some uncertainty on the weekend weather. it looks like this developing area of low pressure will bring a spell of very wet weather, primarily to england and wales, much of scotland and northern ireland, bar the off shower should stay largely dry on saturday with some sunshine. it could be very wet across parts of england and wales, particularly central, southern, and eastern england. up to an inch in spots. it will be quite cool generally across the board. across the far south—east we could see temperatures in the high teens, before the cooler, wetter weather moves in from the west. on sunday, that area of low pressure pushes off into the new continent. a ridge of high pressure builds. we could see a window of fine 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. so the weekend is certainly going to be a mixed 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 1400 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. 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. and the top story in the uk: