i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: it is just hours to president's trump state of the union address, to a deeply divided congress. we are live in washington with more. actress and un special envoy angelina jolie meets rohingya refugees, calling for an end to the violence that has driven them from their homes. i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: ten years after one of australia's worst natural disasters, we meet the people still struggling to come to terms with the black saturday fires. mr neeson, are you sorry for what you said? and actor liam neeson denies he is racist, after saying he once wanted to kill a black man in revenge for a friend's rape. good morning.

it is 8:00am in singapore, midnight in london, and 7:00pm in washington, where in a few hours‘ time president trump will deliver the annual state of the union address. the speech was delayed by a week because of the longest government shutdown in us history. we know the president will address immigration and border security, and likely call for infrastructure spending. well, despite a somewhat rocky start to the year, donald trump's counsellor kellyanne conway was in an upbeat mood. the president will be talking about the booming economy, and the fact that wages are up and unemployment is down, deregulation is successful. he has remade thejudiciary. when oui’ he has remade thejudiciary. when our export oil and gas, as he would

say, like no—one else exports oil and gas. but he is also going to be visionary. however, senate democrats have not been so generous to mr trump. what is the state of the trump economy? failing the middle class. what is the state of the trump healthcare what is the state of the trump healthca re system ? what is the state of the trump healthcare system? failing american families. what is the state of the trump administration? chaos. and what is the state of trump foreign policy? inside out and backward. the bbc‘s laura trevelyan is in new york with the latest. kelly kellyanne conway has been saying that the president will make an appeal for more courtesy in washington. 0f an appeal for more courtesy in washington. of course, that has been in rather short supply after that 35 day partial government shutdown over president trump's desire for a border wall, but tonight the president is apparently going to call for bipartisanship. he is going

to suggest that democrats and republicans could work together on lowering the cost of prescription drugs and on repairing america's crumbling infrastructure. all sounds good, but the well has been so poisoned by that government shutdown, democrats are still saying they won't give the president any money for his wall. they won't be at all pleased to hear that yesterday the president and jared kushner, his son—in—law, met with contractors to discuss building the wall and there is the possibility the government could shutdown again in february if appropriations don't reach a deal on the wall. so that is the backdrop for the night's address. some people are surprised that is going ahead, because we were hearing a doll trump was saying that i will do my own state of the union address if it is not going to go according to convention. we are here now. how much support do you think he has in congress? well, certainly, of course, he has the support of the republican base. he has the support of republican lawmakers up to a point. but remember, the

republican—controlled senate has just rebuked him over his foreign policy, saying that they don't want to see two quick of a drawdown of troops in the area and afghanistan. so this is a bit of a dicey moment for the president, not least because, babita, his inaugural committee, so that was the committee that raised all the money for the celebrations when he was inaugurated, two years ago, that committee has now been subpoenaed by prosecutors in new york, who want to see exactly who gave money to that inaugural committee, whether they we re inaugural committee, whether they were foreign nationals, what that money was spent on, and basically whether anybody got access in return for the money that they paid. so once again you have this whiff of corruption. remember, the president already are still waiting for that report from the special counsel, robert mueller, into whether there we re robert mueller, into whether there were any links between his campaign and russia. so a lot going on, quite the backdrop to the speech tonight. and we will be getting an asian persceptive on the state of the union speech with rico in a few minutes' time.

in other news this hour: the un special envoy angelina jolie has visited camps in bangladesh for muslim rohingyas displaced from myanmar. the hollywood actor condemned the world's failure to prevent a crisis that has seen around 750,000 people driven from their homes, as she addressed a crowd of people in the world's largest refugee settlement of cox's bazar. the rohingya families i have met are no different from other refugees in one crucial respect. they want to be able to return home. and they have an absolute right to return home. but only when they feel it is safe enough to do so voluntarily, and they know that their rights will be respected. the responsibility to ensure those rights and make it possible for the rohingya people to return to rakhine state lies squarely with the authorities and the government in myanmar. also this hour: a woman has been arrested in paris on suspicion of arson, after an early—morning apartment fire in one of the city's

upscale neighbourhoods claimed the lives of ten people and injured 30 others. the paris prosecutor said the female suspect suffered from prior psychological problems. german chancellor angela merkel has pledged to strengthen her country's economic partnership with japan, amid turbulence caused by the ongoing trade war between the us and china. she spoke to university students at the close of a two—day visit to the region which also saw her meetjapan‘s emperor and crown prince. pope francis has publicly admitted that there is a problem within the roman catholic church of bishops and priests sexually abusing nuns. he told reporters that some nuns had been reduced to sexual slavery. the pope added that a number of clerics had been suspended, and he vowed to do more to combat the abuse. hundreds of thousands of fans have lined the streets of downtown boston to celebrate the new england patriots' sixth super bowl championship. the team paraded the vince lombardi trophy after a 13—3 victory over the los angeles rams in super bowl liii in atlanta at the weekend. quarterback tom brady becomes the first player in history to win

a sixth super bowl ring. so, as we wait for that state of the union address, what are americans abroad and many here in asia looking out for? patricia reed is chair of democrats abroad here in singapore, and joins us in the studio. thank you so much forjoining us, patricia. just listening to kellyanne conway earlier, it looks like the focus will be more for a domestic audience. the speech of president trump. but what about asia? i mean, two thirds of the global population is here in the region. what would you like to hear from the president? well, i think

that there is... the president has been focused on things that benefit people like him, primarily, in the first half of his term, so billionaires and corporations. he has done very little to help the average american. as far as his paris in the trade war that he's started with china, we've seen some very real consequences in the united states. gm has started laying off 4000 workers this week. harley—davidson barely break even and has announced that they are moving their manufacturing overseas. trump had to approve $12 billion in subsidies to offset the tariffs... damage that was done to american farmers. all right, outside of what he is going to talk about with domestic issues, clearly the us china trade dispute will also come into focus. but trump has demonstrated something that previous us president should have done, held china accountable on it and other unfair trade practices. it is a very

delicate balance and it is a negotiation that requires great skill, delicacy and diplomacy —— ip. and a very deep understanding of, you know, industry and corporation related issues between the two countries. i think that he needs to rely on his advisers, and i think some of our rely on his advisers, and i think some of oui’ concerns rely on his advisers, and i think some of our concerns is that historically he has not been relying on those advisers. but you would agree that he has done what us presidents haven't really done, and thatis presidents haven't really done, and that is face up to the chinese. look, i think... that is face up to the chinese. look, ithink... two that is face up to the chinese. look, i think... two wrong that is face up to the chinese. look, ithink... two wrong is that is face up to the chinese. look, i think... two wrong is never make a right, and regardless of what he is going to say about past presidents, he needs to be his own man and he needs to be leading the way and be implementing policies that are good for the average american. what about the kim trump summit? are we going to have a part two ? summit? are we going to have a part two? we will see. it is fair to say that we would welcome an agreement actually being signed. what we've seen actually being signed. what we've seen is a record number of agreements being shredded to pieces, the iran agreement, although iran

was not rupturing any of its terms for its agreement, trump dismissed it and four it apart. russian... the russian nuclear agreement that was signed in 1987 by president reagan, he has now said it is want that either. he has announced that he is going to be developing new nuclear weapons in the united states, in my home state of texas. what about climate change? climate change has not even seemed to be on the radar. there are very real concerns right now. climate change, we have 12 yea rs now. climate change, we have 12 years to now. climate change, we have 12 yea rs to address now. climate change, we have 12 years to address the very real climate issues. the piece, by the way, is fantastic for climate change. nobody talks about the impact of waron change. nobody talks about the impact of war on climate change and omissions. we have an issue around the opioid epidemic which is killing record numbers of americans. we have record numbers of americans. we have record numbers of mass murders. gun control, lose gun control. we need to have serious conversations about. there are some very real issues that need to be discussed. a lot of real issues that may not even be discussed in this state of the union

address. thank you so much for joining us on newsday. the head of the taliban delegation in moscow has said he hopes that withdrawal of us troops from afghanistan will take months, not years. following peace negotiations with the us in qatar last month, the taliban delegation is holding political talks with the former afghan president hamid karzai, along with other influential opposition figures. afghan government officials are not taking part, criticising the meeting as counter—productive. 0ur correspondent secunder kermani is there. there is clearly a growing momentum behind peace talks on afghanistan. the discussions here today come just over a week after significant progress was made in separate talks between the taliban and us officials in the gulf. but while they focus primarily on american troop withdrawal, on the threat from groups like al qaeda, the talks here today have been not only about how today have been not only about how to reach a peace deal, but also how

the country might be governed in the future, were the taliban to become mainstream political force. taliban representatives said that the country's constitution would have to be replaced i am islamic one. some politicians pushed back against that, saying that the current system needed to be respect that, as does the progress made in recent years on issues such as women's writes. —— writes dominic rights. you are watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we look at the mounting controversy over a racial comment made by actor liam neeson. also on the programme: australia marks ten years since one of its worst natural disasters, the black saturday fires. this is the moment that millions in iran had been waiting for. after his long years in exile, the first hesitant steps of ayatollah khomeini on iranian soil. south africa's white government has

offered its black opponents concessions unparalleled in the history of apartheid. and the anc leader, nelson mandela, is to be set free unconditionally. four, three, two, one... a countdown to a critical moment. the world's most powerful rocket ignited all 27 of its engines at once. and apart from its power, it's this recycling of the rocket, slashing the cost of a launch, that makes this a breakthrough in the business of space travel. two americans have become the first humans to walk in space without any lifeline to their spaceship. one of them called it a piece of cake. thousands of people have given the yachtswoman ellen macarthur a spectacular homecoming in the cornish port of falmouth after she smashed the world record for sailing solo around the world non—stop. this is newsday on the bbc.

i'm rico hizon in singapore. yes, thanks for being with us. i'm babita sharma in london. our top stories: millions of americans prepare to tune in to donald trump's state of the union address. he's expected to call for unity in front of a divided congress. the actor and un special envoy, angelina jolie, has visited a rohingya refugee camp in bangladesh, calling for an end to the violence that has forced thousands from their homes. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the japan times leads on the us and south korea's agreement in principle on sharing the cost of stationing us troops in south korea. it goes on to say that seoul will boost its contribution by nearly $1 billion for keeping us troops in south korea. the south china morning post website explains how the heightened security and emergence of the online sex trade in singapore is driving away mainland chinese workers in the red light district geylang. and in germany, the idea of imposing

a speed limit on the motorway almost caused rioting, reports the new york times. there was an emotional outpouring by the public after a government—appointed commission floated the idea of a speed limit on the auto—bahn. and those are the papers. the us premiere of a new film starring liam neeson has been cancelled amid a row over his comments that he once wanted to kill a random black man after a friend was raped. the actor has denied he is racist, but the remarks, published by on monday, sparked an outcry. 0ur correspondent nick bryant reports from new york. after his explosive comments about rape, revenge and race... mr neeson, are you sorry for what you said? ..liam neeson arrived at this manhattan television studio not to make an apology, but to offer an explanation.

i'm not racist... he admitted to setting out to kill an innocent black man, nearly 40 years ago, after someone close to him was allegedly raped by a black man. would you have had the same reaction if your friend had said it was a white man? 0h, definitely. if she'd said an irish or a scot or a brit or a lithuanian, i know i would have had the same effect. i was trying to...show honour to my — stand up for my dearfriend in this terrible, medieval fashion. and i'm a fairly intelligent guy, and that's why it kind of shocked me when i came down to earth, after having these horrible feelings. luckily no violence occurred, ever, thanks be to god. what makes you think you can kill a man? i read it in a crime novel. promoting his new movie, the theme of which is murderous revenge, the actor had given an interview, telling how he had sought retribution after

hearing about the rape. what colour with a? she said it was a black person. there has been outrage at those remarks, but some have commended his honesty, and viewers saw his own personal torment written across his face. wow, i'm just shocked. i couldn't believe he would say something like that. he's a — i thought he was a good guy. it makes you have a little bit of fear, but we have to push through that and find the love. for liam neeson, today was supposed to be about promoting his new movie,

but instead, he is trying to salvage his reputation. the 66—year—old has been one of hollywood's more bankable stars. will he face a backlash at the box office? nick bryant, bbc news, new york. thursday marks ten years since one of australia's worst natural disasters. the black saturday bushfires on the outskirts of melbourne caused the death of 173 people, and the loss of more than 2,000 homes. a decade on, some people still struggle to deal with trauma of the fire and what they lost that day. more from our correspondent, hywel griffith. ferocious and all consuming, a decade on the scale of the black saturday fires is still standing. the hottest day ever recorded in melbourne, flames swept through

victoria's tinder dry forests. embers were carried for dozens of kilometres. i looked over here and a gumtree just exploded. michelle and vitali thought they were well prepared. they packed their cars by the fire cut michelle drove through it. filming the flames as they surrounded them. it was only when i looked in the rear vision mirror and saw the flames and the flames either side and then i thought, you have made a mistake, you shouldn't have left. and that realisation that you are trapped, you know, this is happening and you are stuck. are trapped, you know, this is happening and you are stucklj are trapped, you know, this is happening and you are stuck. i felt that she would be ok, felt or hoped, yeah, that she would be ok. i didn't know that so many people died. i didn't know that sony people died in their cars. ten years may have passed but the trauma black saturday

brought is still felt here. and every summer the risk of more bushfires returns. the trees have grown again and so there is plenty of fuel in the forest. and the last few weeks they have seen the hottest temperatures here in a decade. the local volunteer fire crews want eve ryo ne local volunteer fire crews want everyone needs to have a fire plan. after the fires are lot of people moved out of the district. their houses were burnt and they decided, no, i don't want to live in a fire area. and a lot of people have come in without that experience. karen is one of the residents who moved after black saturday, when her home burnt down, for she had left were her dog and horses. but starting again gave her life changing opportunity. for me the biggest lesson i learnt was deciding how i wanted to think and feel about that event at the time, because that was really all i had. i had no control over anything else. i had no control over anything else. i had no control over anything else. i had no identity documents, i had a house, no clothes. i had nothing at

that point. that choice, being able to choose, or something i did have. an official enquiry into black saturday concluded that it would be a mistake to think of the day as a one—off. rather, it should serve as a warning to everyone of how quickly, how unpredictably, lives can be lost. hywell griffith, bbc news, melbourne. it's just a couple of hours to go until tonight's state of the union speech, but let's go back in time to what president trump promised to do last year. these speeches are a chance to lay out your agenda and goals for the coming months. and in 2018, mr trump touched on the iran deal, infrastructure and the so—called islamic state group. so, has he delivered? 0ur correspondents have been finding out. the state of our union is strong, because our people are strong. but there is much more work to be

done. we will continue our fight until isis is defeated. fast forward to december 2018 when president trump tweeted that the us would be pulling troops out of syria, saying that isis had been defeated. and we have won against isis. we have beaten them and we have beaten them badly. we have taken back the land. many experts and officials dispute that statement. while isis has lost much of the territory it held in the middle east it still has a large presence in syria and iraq with an estimated 30,000 fighters. and at the start of this year, isis claimed responsibility for a deadly explosion in the syrian city.|j responsibility for a deadly explosion in the syrian city. i am asking congress to address the fundamental flaws in the terrible iran nuclear deal. what fundamental

flaws is he talking about? the deal is focused on iran's nuclear programme and doesn't include other possible threats. i am announcing today that the united states will withdraw from the iran nuclear deal. yes, he kept his promise, and he has made it part of a broader policy to counter what he calls iran's malign and terrorist activity, by pulling out of the deal has also damaged us credibility, because in fact iran was and still is sticking to its terms. it has strained relations with america's european allies because they helped negotiate the accord and they are sticking with it. and critics argue ditching a carefully crafted arms—control agreement makes the middle east less stable, not more. tonight i'm calling on congress to produce a bill that generates at least 1.5 trillion dollars for the new infrastructure investment that our country so desperately needs. infrastructure investment was in a new idea for donald trump. he talked

about it relentlessly on the 2016 campaign trailand about it relentlessly on the 2016 campaign trail and promised new bridges and roads and tunnels and airports in his inaugural address. the $1.5 billion pricetag in his state of the union were four was new, but since then he has done almost nothing to make it a reality -- $1.5 almost nothing to make it a reality —— $1.5 trillion. almost nothing to make it a reality -- $1.5 trillion. we are going to rebuild america's crumbling infrastructure. congressional legislation has been non—existent. while infrastructure investment is something both parties can agree on there seems to be very little interest in bipartisan co—operation right now. and we'll have live coverage of the president trump's state of the union address, plus full analysis, across the bbc from 0200 gmt. you have been watching newsday. i'm babita sharma in london. and i'm rico hizon in singapore. stay with us. nonya kuehs. we'll be seeing what they are and why they're so popular at this time of year.

i will be sending some over to london. i should hope so. absolutely. we wanted to show you this. and before we go, 700 million people tuned in for a massive televised gala in china. these pictures are from the state broadcaster ushering in the chinese new year. the holiday is marked by fireworks and dancing, and the exchange of red packets filled with money. iam i am still waiting for rico to send me mine. that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. see you soon. good morning. in the last few hours we've got a weather front of moving its way from west to east. it is bringing some rain, some of it quite heavy, but it will clear away from the south—east corner, perhaps leaving a legacy of cloud first thing in the morning and outbreaks of rain. i did quite breezy with a scattering of showers into the north—west. so that kind of sums up wednesday's weather really. we will start of the morning cloudy, dollar down with some outbreaks of rain across that essex and kent coast.

sunny spells online. the south—westerly breeze, so a mild sauce but it will continue to drive in the risk of showers through northern ireland and western scotla nd northern ireland and western scotland as we go through the day, some of them pushing inland, 7— 11 degrees the high. now there is the potential for some of the rain to get up in the south—east of little later on in the day. we will need to keep an eye on that. that weather front wriggles its weight off into the near continent but it's a bit of a mess wednesday night into thursday. it is joined a mess wednesday night into thursday. it isjoined by a mess wednesday night into thursday. it is joined by another weather front here as it moves its way west to east overnight could bring in something a little bit cooler and the potential for some snow to higher ground as it moves its way through scotland. behind it it's going to be a breezy affair on thursday with that westerly wind still driving in the showers are longbows exposed west facing coasts. but again it is still a relatively mild story particularly in comparison to where we were a week ago, 5—10 degrees the overall high. now as a move out of thursday into friday it does look as though we will see more of a significant area of low pressure starting to push in from the atlantic, and with that low plenty of isobars squeezing together, dick lee on the southern

flank, that is where we are likely to see the strongest of the winds, gale force gusts not out of the question. and some of the rain on friday will be quite heavy as that low pressure moves its way steadily north and east. so by the middle of the afternoon there will be up rates of rain, some of it heavy. the strongest of the winds perhaps in the afternoon down towards the south—west, 50—60 mile an hour gusts not out of the question. so with the cloud, wind and rain, temperatures perhaps possibly irrelevant, but nevertheless here they are, 9— 12 degrees, relatively mild across the country. now as we move out of friday into the start of the weekend, that area of low pressure will put off into scandinavia. but we will need to keep an eye on another potential developing low into the south, which may well bring more rain to the start of the weekend. again the isobars stay tightly packed, it stays pretty windy with it. so for the end of the week it's going to be a mild story but a windy one and we have the potential to see some gusts of winds 50-70 potential to see some gusts of winds

50—70 miles an hour with further rain at times. take care. we will you're watching bbc world news. i'm babita sharma. our top story: injust under an hour and a half's time, president trump will deliver the annual state of the union address. the speech has been delayed by a week because of the longest government shutdown in us history. millions of americans will be tuning in. president trump will address immigration and border security, and is expected to call for unity in front of a deeply divided congress. actress and un refugee envoy angelina jolie has visited camps in bangladesh for muslim rohingyas displaced from myanmar. she has called for myanmar‘s government to stop the violence that has driven them from their homes. and this story is trending on bbc.com. the irish actor liam neeson has denied he's racist, after telling an interviewer he once set out to kill an innocent black man in revenge for a friend's rape. he's the senses and was appalled by his behaviour but was not motivated by racism. —— he says he quickly came to his senses. you up—to—date, stay with us.