i'm babita sharma. this is bbc world news. our top story: are actually the british prime minister, theresa may, will ask the eu for a further delay to brexit. in a change of direction, mrs may said she will also try to reach agreement welcome to newsday. i'm babita sharma in london. with the opposition labour party the headlines: on how to end the crisis. seven hours of talks with a divided cabinet. the corruption trial of malaysia's former theresa may says she will ask prime minister najib razak for another brexit delay and offers gets underway shortly. to consult the opposition. this debate, this division cannot drag on much longer. he's accused of stealing billions it is putting members of dollars from the country's of parliament and everyone sovereign wealth fund 1mdb. else under immense pressure. and this story is trending at bbc.com. we need to ensure that parliament one of prince harry's biggests fans in australia, has an opportunity to vote 99—year—old daphne dunne, on proposals that prevent us has passed away. she died just days after getting crashing out of the eu in the end a birthday card from harry of next week. and his wife meghan. she said she'd had "a very special friendship" with the prince. wide the corruption trial of the former prime minister of malaysia and the top story in the uk.

najib razak gets under way within hours. i'm rico hizon in singapore. also in the programme: celebrations in algeria as president abdelaziz bouteflika resigns after 20 years in power, bowing to weeks of pressure and protest. in the eight—year—old american boy who's winning smile has become an internet in china. —— and the eight—year—old boy who is winning smile has become an internet sensation in china. it's 8am in singapore and 1:00 in the morning here in london where the british prime minister theresa may has announced she will ask the eu for another extension to the brexit deadline, in the hope of breaking the deadlock. after seven hours of cabinet discussions, mrs may also said she wanted to explore a way forward with the opposition labour leader, jeremy corbyn, to find a solution both parties can support. to say that won't be easy is an understatement. john pienaar begins our coverage.

after two failed attempts at brexit, and a big split in cabinet, the prime minister finally felt forced to consider compromise, her announcement in downing street a dramatic change of direction. i know there are some who are so fed up with delay and endless arguments that they would like to leave with no deal next week. i've always been clear that we could make a success of no—deal in the long—term, but leaving with a deal is the best solution. so we will need a further extension of article 50, one that is as short as possible, and which ends when we pass a deal. i'm offering to sit down with the leader of the opposition and to try to agree a plan, that we would both stick to, to ensure that we leave the european union and that we do so with a deal. if we cannot agree on a single unified approach, then

we would instead agree a number of options for the future relationship, that we could put to the house in a series of votes to determine which course to pursue. crucially, the government stands ready to abide by the decision of the house. but, to make this process work, the opposition would need to agree to this too. senior ministers emerged after a grinding seven hours at the table. brexiteers didn't like theresa may's plan and said so, though one, more supportive of mrs may, tried to keep a lid on dissent. i think everyone recognises that it would have been preferable if we'd secured support for the withdrawal agreement last week. sadly, we didn't command a majority in the house of commons, and we now need to ensure that we can get a majority for us leaving the european union. the labour leader, invited now to offer his ideas for brexit, again spelt them out. we've put forward our proposals, which are to ensure there is a customs union with the european union,

that there is access to those markets, and above all, there's protections of our standards of consumer, environmental and of course, workers‘s rights. and we'll ensure that those are there, on the table, so that there is no danger of crashing out. but at westminster, most mps lean towards a so—called softer brexit, potentially closer to the eu than that on offer by mrs may. conservative brexiteers are angry, and the thought of building bridges withjeremy corbyn, or trying to, has gone down badly, especially with one who's a likely contender for mrs may's job. the result will almost certainly, be, if corbyn gets his way, that we remain in the customs union, so that we can't control our trade policy, the huge areas of lawmaking we can't control, and brexit is becoming soft to the point of disintegration. senior mps, who've been pushing for compromise, have welcomed the possibility of brexit by consensus, but weren't taking it on trust. after 2.75 years, she's now said

she wants to reach out. but we have been here before. and the net result was the prime minister listened politely, but her mind remained closed. and she really needs to give, i think, parliament an indication that she is willing to move. brexit has strained trust in politics, and torn the fabric of labour and the tories. mrs may has accelerated a reckoning in her party that may have been unavoidable. her talks withjeremy corbyn and the coming votes in parliament will frame any consensus that's possible. the eu will then decide whether to grant britain a brexit delay. but if mrs may does buy more time, it's time that'll be used by her critics and potential successors, who are keen to end her time in number ten, and carry on brexit under new management. john pienaar, bbc news, downing street. so what does this mean for the way forward? here's the bbc‘s political correspondent naomi grimley who has been watching developments from westminster. it is a pivot, it is a change

of direction from a prime minister who mostly has been can sound with keeping the right of her party on—side and also the democratic unionist, who pop—up administration in government, and now it seems that she is prepared to discard them or at least marginalise them and look instead because the aisle in the house of commons, but that will mean she will have to discard some of her redlines and watered—down some of the principles which she has so cherish our cherished in the last few months and years. we had something quite extraordinary from the opposition leader jeremy corbyn, he said that he only really heard about this invitation to chart from the prime minister by watching statement on television himself stop by reading into that, what can we make the break down of communication between the opposition leader here? i think we can discern that a lot of being made up on the hoof, theresa may is a woman

who has been fighting for her political life really four weeks if not months, now she has often confounded her critics and prove them wrong. she has, for example, survived a vote of no—confidence and 15 ministerial resignations, but the time is running out. reckoning is within because it just does not look possible that she can keep both wings of her cabinets on—side and that is really why this is a last flow of the dice, to some extent. i hope thatjeremy corbyn and his labour mps can really be bound into any final decision on a compromise deal. just talk us through the logistics of what we can expect on wednesday in westminster. well, we're told these talks will take place quickly, so they will be

chatting face to face and trying to work out where the common ground is, can theresa may, for example, now stomach britain staying in the customs union, as labour has suggested? there were also in parliament tomorrow be a bill that some backbenchers are trying to push through to take the no deal scenario off the table. it is a very small bill but no mps are worried that time is ticking on, because a member, amidst all this, we have a new deadline looming for britain to fall out of the eu, that is the 12th of april. it is a matter of days now and that is why all of a sudden, there is frantic activity as theresa may tries to avoid that happening. certainly not something she wants as prime minister. we will keep across

brexit developments. full analysis for you on the bbc news website from our analysts and our team in westminster. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. the president of algeria has announced he is resigning with full effect. people have been taking to the streets to celebrate the news that the departure of abdelaziz bouteflika. six weeks of protests against his earlier decision to stand for a term. he said he was leaving in the interests of the country and the people. the demonstrators have also called a hold change at the top of the entire political system and have vowed that evenif political system and have vowed that even if he does leave, that will not stop protests from taking place. bouteflika announced he was standing down ina bouteflika announced he was standing down in a one sentence statement carried by the aps news agency followed by a more detailed letter which has been his primary means of communication since he suffered a

stroke back in 2013 and completely disappeared from public view. in that letter, he said he has taken the step because he is keen to put an end to the current bickering. "i've taken the suitable measures for the continuity of the nation's institution during this interim period." what is going to happen is an election next. we are waiting to hear of course when that will be but it could be for some 90 days‘ time when we understand the caretaker leader will be in charge as a ca reta ker leader will be in charge as a caretaker president until those elections are held and announced so we are following that for you very closely but that, the scene now live, 1:10am in algiers where they are celebrating the news that abdelaziz bouteflika is leaving as president of the country. two other news making headlines. my ministerjustin trudeau of canada

has announced that the former attorney general and treasury board minister are no longer part of the liberal caucus, saying that the recording of a civil servant byjody wilson—raybould was unconscionable. they were put under pressure not to prosecute a quebec construction company. i suspect in the murder of the rapper nipsey russell has been arrested. it is claimed the vic and the suspect knew each other. nipsey russell was shot in los angeles on sunday, and he is 33. 0f thailand's military government has given northern promises —— provinces seven days to clean up. over the last few weeks, northern thailand has been one

of the most polluted places on the planet. the haze has been caused by smoke from forest fires and farmers burning fields to clear their land. some sad news from australia. 0ne some sad news from australia. one of ince harry's biggest fans, 99—year—old daphne dunne, passed away, just days after getting a birthday card from prince harry and his wife. she featured heavily in prince harry's trips to the country and said she had a very special friendship with the prince. in brunei, they have just made adultery and gay sex in the country illegal and gay sex in the country illegal and by death. those found guilty could face whipping or stoning. in 2014, brunei became the first country in the region to adopt sharia law, despite widespread condemnation. the united nations has called the punishments cruel and inhumane

and celebrities like george clooney and eltonjohn are calling for a boycott of hotels owned by the country. a statement from the office of brunei's prime minister justifies the new laws, saying: chiara sangiorgio from amnesty international is a critic of the new law — she joined me a short time ago. we at amnesty international are gravely concerned about the coming into force of this new penal code in brunei. just to give you two examples, on one hand we see the cruel punishments that you mentioned, amputation, flogging and stoning to death being illegal punishment in brunei, and on the other hand we also see behaviours that should not be considered crimes

at all, for example, consensual sexual relations between people of the same or of the opposite sex, being criminalised in brunei. we have been calling on the authorities of the country to immediately refrain from lamenting this new penal code and to take steps to bring their legislation in line with international human rights law and standard. are you aware of how people from the lgbt community are treated in brunei and how significant the number is there? we not aware of the moment of any cases, as you mentioned, the new penal code is coming into placejust today in brunei. we have seen widespread concern, both from activists in the country but also from the lgbtqi community more widely. what can you do? i mean that was going to be my

question, widespread condemnation that we keep hearing from organisations, and from celebrities like george clooney. what can you do there with laws that you say should not be there? we have been trying to document the change in the law but also, we have been engaging with authorities. we have written to them to relay our concerns, we have mobilised our friends and supporters from around the world to deliver our concerns to authorities. we have also seen an astonishing reaction from the international community just over the past week. we have seen several people denouncing these archaic and draconian laws on social media. the un high commissionerfor human rights have also astonishingly and very strongly denounce these laws. we believe that each person has their choice in how

they want to communicate the message, but we are amazed to see there has been so much concern and it will allow even more people tojoin in. the corruption trial of the former malaysian prime minister najib razak will get under way later today. he is accused of stealing billions of dollars from the country's sovereign wealth fund 1mdb. the current prime minister, mahathir mohamad, reopened investigations after defeating mr najib in elections last may. earlier our south east asia correspondentjonathan head gave this update from kuala lumpur. today is the first of what's likely to be a marathon series of tria hearings, stretching out probably for years. there's a total of 42 charges against mr najib,

and today we've got the first trial, which relates to a company called src. that was a one—time subsidiary of 1mdb. they borrowed huge sums of money from the civil servants‘ pension fund, and mr najib is alleged to have received funds via various routes, in three tranches, into his bank accounts at the end of 2014, beginning of 2015. so he's been charged today with what they call a criminal breach of trust, money laundering, and corruption. but this trial itself — we're going to be hearing the prosecution lay out their case today. the attorney—general will lay out the case, possibly some of the 60 prosecution witnesses, and the judge has put aside 30 pre—trial hearing days for this trial to be heard. this is just the first of a series,

possibly up to five, we're not sure how many in total. so this is a very big process, and for malaysians who supported the change of government, this 1mdb scandal was a very big factor in the defeat of mr najib last may. they have been very anxiously waiting for this process to start. but the government has been very keen that it is as transparent and detailed a process as possible. they want to be able to show that justice is being done to mr najib. this trial indeed will be watched very closely by many malaysians. how is the government, jonathan, planning to recover the money he has been accused of stealing? well, it's looking into every possible way. i mean, the numbers are extraordinary. the us department ofjustice says $4.5 billion was misappropriated. the swiss authorities suggest it might be even more than that. they are targeting the banker goldman sachs, which underwrote three massive bond issues that helped 1mdb borrow money. goldman charged very high fees, nearly $600 million. the government is hoping to be able to recover that. it's also hoping that some

of the assets sequestered by the united states — the us has sequestered, confiscated, $1.7 billion worth of assets, including apartments, luxury goods, things like that, that were purchased by this flamboyant financier known atho low, who's a fugitive. at some stage, the proceeds of those may come back to malaysia, but the likelihood is that malaysia will never recover the bulk of what has gone missing. theresa may asks for further delay to brexit. but what does this mean? we will find out the view from brussels. eight years old and he has millions of fans online in china. we will explain all. the accident that happened here was of the sort that can at worst produce a meltdown. in this case the precautions worked, but they didn't work quite well

enough to prevent some old fears about the safety features of these stations from resurfacing. the republic of ireland has become the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace. from today, anyone lighting up in offices, businesses, pubs and restaurants will face a heavy fine. the president was on his way out of the washington hilton hotel, where he had been addressing a trade union conference. the small crowd outside included his assailant. it has become a symbol of paris. 100 years ago, many parisians wished it had never been built. the eiffel tower's birthday is being marked by a re—enactment of the first ascent by gustave eiffel.

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm babita sharma in london. after seven hours of talks with the divided government, theresa may has said she will ask for another brexit delay, and has also offered to consult the opposition. the corruption trial of malaysia's former prime minister gets under way shortly. he is accused of stealing billions of dollars from the country's sovereign wealth fund 1mdb. more now on our top story, brexit. it is notjust about what the uk wants. the other 27 members of the eu have to agree too. president macron of france declared that, although the eu is willing to help theresa may, it can't be held hostage to britain's political crisis. here is our europe editor katya adler. here in brussels, eu decision—makers listen very closely to the prime minister's

statement this afternoon, and they want to be glass half full about it. although there is a certain dose of scepticism in there, they like her intention to look for compromise and for national unity around brexit. but then those that i speak to say they have seen very little evidence of it so far, either in government or in parliament. the french foreign minister this evening said, "let me know if anything changes". so the mood has lightened slightly. but eu demands on the uk have not changed at all. basically, the uk has up until next week, remember the eu leaders brexit summit on 10 april, to either get the withdrawal agreement past parliament, or leave the eu without a deal or ask for a longer brexit delay. now, the prime minister says that she will do that, but if and when she does, eu leaders have some pretty

strict conditions attached. first and foremost, they will demand that the uk prepares to take part in european parliamentary elections at the end of may. they don't believe that she will be able to get her brexit house in order before then. there is also talk now of trying to get the uk to commit to being a constructive eu member as long as it stays inside the european union, so as long as it delays brexit, because there are concerns, for example, it could block the eu budget that needs approval in the coming weeks and months, and that is a key concern in brussels. well, this is gavin thomas, whose face has been made into popular reaction memes in the country. his fake smile meme is often used by chinese social media users who are sometimes too polite to say what they really think. earlier i spoke to zhaoyin feng, washington correspondent for the bbc‘s chinese service. she explained why the people

of china love gavin so much. i think it has to do with the social norms in china. a lot of them often find themselves in uncomfortable situations where they have two smile to be polite, and so they can find... they can relate to gavin's fixed smile, like, everyone has gone through that. for example, if you are in an awkward conversation and you want to exit smoothly, you might send a meme of gavin, or if you want to voice disappointment or rejection, you might not send it directly, you will send a meme of gavin and politely leave the conversation. he is such a big sensation on the mainland. he has millions of followers and he even has his own merchandise in china. indeed, he actually has 2.5 million

followers on chinese social media platform weibo. he has his own merchandise, i have seen his phone cases, goodies, and he represents brands in china right now. you mentioned gavin in minneapolis, and of course when he is in front of the camera he makes all of these wonderful expressions. he is a happy and jolly boy. what kind of a person is he off—camera? and jolly boy. what kind of a person is he off-camera? he was like that off—camera as well. he is like a normal eight—year—old kid, he likes playing with his mum, likes playing video games. and i would say 90% of the time he was just a normal kid. but in that 10% of the time you can see that he knows he is popular in china, and he loves making videos for millions of people online. what do you think of my fake smile? can it bea do you think of my fake smile? can it be a meme? i am not actually faking it, this is my smile!

that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. this is a real smile. hello there, good morning. at the moment, it feels like winter has made a comeback. we've had everything thrown at us in the last 24 hours. lots of weather watcher pictures of big hailstorms affecting the uk, and of course, the sunshine coming out in between has led to some lovely rainbow pictures as well. we're seeing a short, sharp burst of really cold air that's come down from the arctic. you can see how that colder air has plunged southwards, and with it all those shower clouds. the cloud that's in the north sea is coming back into scotland and northern england, which is why we're seeing some sleet and snow, and it's quite slippery over some high—level routes. some icy patches around, with temperatures in many places close to orjust below freezing.

so a cold start really, i think, to wednesday. a pretty miserable morning across the far north of england and scotland. some rain, some sleet and snow across the hills. that rain clears away from northern england, pushes its way into northern ireland, mostly rain here, and across north wales. but some heavy showers in the south—east and east anglia. some hail and thunder possible here. but many central and eastern parts of the uk shouldn't be too windy, so those showers could hang around a bit, but it will be windy in the north and west of the uk. strong to gale—force winds here. so these are the temperatures, 7—9 degrees. it will feel colder in the wind. especially northern and western scotland, northern ireland, maybe the far south—west of england, and the channel islands, nearer to 2—4 degrees. that's how it will feel in the wind. we've got low pressure dominating our weather at the moment, which is why we're seeing all these downpours. it's cutting off that supply of colder air, mind you, on thursday. we've got that weather front wrapped around the low, so that's the focus for some more persistent what is probably mostly rain at this stage across northern scotland. some wetter weather curling back into south—west england, moving into wales,

and into the west country too. a few heavy showers elsewhere. but a fair bit of sunshine around. not a bad day for northern england, southern scotland, and those temperatures are creeping up to around 9 or 10 degrees. and, as we head towards the end of the week and into the weekend, it's an improving sort of story. it will feel a bit warmer. i think many places will be dry, and there'll be some sunshine around as well. we've got our low pressure from thursday into friday, still anchored to the south—west of the uk. but, instead of a northerly wind that we're getting at the moment, we're going to find more of a south or south—westerly wind. that means the temperatures will get a boost. we still have the threat of some downpours in the south—west of england, wales, perhaps into north—west of england. eastern scotland, eastern england probably having a drier day on friday, with some sunshine at times. those temperatures continuing to climb up to 13 or even 14 celsius.