i'm ben bland with bbc news. our top story. us prosecutors have announced charges against wikileaks founder, julian assange as an extradition battle begins following his arrest. he was taken into custody when ecuador withdrew the protection of its embassy in london after nearly seven years. british prime minister theresa may you are watching newsday on the bbc. in i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines. defended the arrest telling american prosecutors announce charges against wikileaks founder, julian assange following his arrest in london, his lawyer says he now parliament no—one is above the law. faces extradition to the us. huge crowds have taken this sets a dangerous precedent to the streets of sudan's capital for all media organisations after the military seized power. following months of protest, and journalists in europe the country's longstanding president 0mar al bashir has been and elsewhere around the world. removed from power. and this story is huge crowds take to the streets trending on bbc.com. of sudan's capital after the military seizes power. the world's first private moon mission has ended in failure. a remote controlled israeli spacecraft is believed to have and i'm ben bland in london. also in the programme. crashed on the lunar surface the first private moon as it was due to land. mission ends in failure. it's thought to have crashed that's all. stay with bbc world news. on the lunar surface. making his mark around the world. we'll be speaking to architect moshe safdie to find out what inspires his unique designs. live from our studios

in singapore... and london. this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 7am here in singapore and midnight in evening in london and midnight in london where the founder of wikileaks, julian assange is injail after ecuador withdrew the asylum it had given him in its london embassy for nearly seven years. he's been found guilty of jumping bail. mr assange is also facing extradition to the us, related to one of the biggest—ever leaks of government secrets, as our correspondent james landale reports. this was the momentjulian assange‘s seven years of self—imposed asylum came to an end. older, greyer perhaps, but still defiant, still protesting. we must resist!

you can resist! the ecuadorian authorities revoked his asylum and allowed in the police to arrest him for breaching bail. inside, he had resisted the officers, shouting, "this is unlawful, i'm not leaving!" before they handcuffed him and led him outside. what we've shown today is that no—one is above the law. julian assange is no hero, he has hidden from the truth for years and years. and it is right that his future should be decided in the british judicial system. this afternoon, assange was brought to westminster magistrates‘ court. he gave a thumbs—up to supporters outside. and inside, he waved to the public gallery. but the judge called him a narcissist, with a laughable defence, and found him guilty of failing to surrender to the court in 2012. he was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at a later date. he's also facing conspiracy charges in the united states, relating to a massive leak

of government secrets almost a decade ago. this sets a dangerous precedent for all media organisations and journalists in europe and elsewhere around the world. this precedent means that any journalist can be extradited for prosecution in the united states, for having published truthful information about the united states. the wikileaks website that julian assange founded has, over the years, published hundreds of thousands of secret military and diplomatic documents, many from the us. revelations that government officials argued put lives at risk. perhaps the most disturbing leak was this video, of a us military helicopterfiring at iraqi civilians and journalists in a 2007 attack that left at least ten dead. this pertains to publishing work nine years ago. publishing of documents, of videos, of the killing

of innocent civilians, exposure of war crimes. this isjournalism. it's called conspiracy, it's conspiracy to commit journalism. in 2010, assange was investigated by swedish prosecutors about claims of sexual assault, allegations he denied, and eventually avoided by seeking asylum in the ecuadorian embassy. can you hear me? from his diplomatic bolthole, he continued to campaign and defend himself, but eventually, he outstayed the welcome of his ecuadorian hosts. in particular, the new president, lenin moreno. translation: we have taken asylum away from this brat and removed a stone from our shoe. in the future we'll give asylum to people who deserve it. and not to miserable hackers whose only intention is to destabilise governments. to some, julian assange is a champion of free speech. to others, a dangerous conspiracy theorist.

either way, after almost seven years in that building, he's now at least facing justice. this evening after assange left court by a back entrance, the labour leaderjeremy corbyn said he should not be extradited. for now, the former guest of ecuador is facing a new life of confinement, initially at least at the pleasure of her majesty's government. james landale, bbc news. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. donald trump has welcomed the south korean president moonjae—in to the white house on an official visit to the united states. in talks at the oval office, the us president left open the possibility of a third summit with kim jong—un after the failed summit in hanoi in february. but mr trump would not comment on whether he had communicated recently with the north korean leader. that summit could happen and it's step—by—step. it's not a fast process, i never said it would be. it's step—by—step.

i enjoy the summits, i enjoy being with the chairman. i think it's been very productive. also making news today, voting has begun in what's been called the world's largest democratic exercise — india's general election. 900 million people are eligible to vote at around i million polling stations and it will take five weeks. on may the 23rd, people in india will find out if prime minister narendra modi has won another five—year term or if the opposition congress party will take power. at least 18 new confirmed ebola cases have been reported in the democratic republic of the congo. it's the largest increase the country has seen in a single day, since the start of the outbreak in august. there have been over 1,000 confirmed cases and more than 750 people have died. now to brexit and the uk prime minister theresa may addressed the house of commons on thursday to update mps on her trip

to brussels the previous day which resulted in an extension to the brexit process until october 31st. here's what she had to say. ahead of the council, i wrote to president tusk to seek a short extension to the article 50 process to the 30th ofjune. there was a range of views about the length of the extension, with a large number of member states preferring a longer extension to the end of this year or even into the next. in the end, what was agreed by the uk and the eu 27 was a compromise, an extension lasting till the end of october. the council also agreed that we would update on our progress at the next meeting injune. the date of our departure from the eu, and our participation in the european parliamentary elections, remains a decision for this house. with me is baroness valerie amos who was appointed to the british house of lords in the late 1990s and has an excellent insight into the brexit process and british politics.

welcome to the programme. we know it has been a tumultuous week, yet another extension to that brexodus line. you travel the world, certainly as a forward diplomat. you must meet people all the time at dinner parties who simply asked you that one question, "what is going on with brexit is not" what is going on was able everybody wants to know what is happening. and i think it's because there is a sense that britain has lost its repetition of confidence. i think even know what the extension we don't know where this is going. why is that? is because every single area of british life is so connected to our membership of the european union. it affects our universities. it is also about the fact that we had been an open, outward looking country and 110w open, outward looking country and now we look as if we are turning in on ourselves. for universities, it

affects the reputations that we will have, the partnerships that we have, collaboration is essential for academic excellence for example, for innovation, for moving forward. the university that i weighed in london, we have over half of our students coming from other countries across the world. —— that i lead. if our country ghost as if it is turning inwards and is not open, if i were visa regime is such that it puts stu d e nts visa regime is such that it puts students off, then our students will go elsewhere. and is that starting to happen do you think from what you are seeing from your perspective? 0ur are seeing from your perspective? our people put off by this notion that brexit means britain is becoming more isolationist? over the last few years, it has been going up and down. we have seen students for example who turned away from britain for example from india a few years ago because of what was happening with the visa regime. but on the

whole because of that reputation for excellence, because of the quality of uk higher education, students have continued to come but their concern, i talked to a lot of students, and they are concerned about the mood in the country, about about the mood in the country, about a sense that if you are not from the united kingdom and even if you are but for example you are black, you will be more open to for example racist insults that somehow the mood in the country is very, very different. and that is extremely worrying for me and for people across the united kingdom. because you have always been a big advocate for a multicultural britain. moving away from the university side of things, you had a long career in the un and development aid. how does brexit impinge on that potentially, the idea that britain can still offer develop an aide and care? aid

is one of those area where britain continues to lead the way, where there continues to be a commitment toa there continues to be a commitment to a major part, 2.7%, of our natural —— national budget going to national —— international aid. it helps to maintain that sense of ongoing british concern for people who across the world are less advantaged. so that remains important. but if in other areas of life if economically and politically we are no longer seen as life if economically and politically we are no longer seen as being connected up to the european union, to the rest of europe and to the rest of the world, it will have a major impact. think you for coming in and talking to us about this. baroness valerie amos. thank you very much. after months of protest in sudan, its longstanding president 0mar al—bashir has been removed from power

in a military coup. it was an abrupt end to his 30 years of his dictatorial rule. a military council is now in charge in khartoum, but there are already questions about how much things will really change in one of the world's poorest nations. 0ur africa editor, fergal keane reports. the revolution isn't over, it simply has a new enemy. the new boss, the general linked to past atrocities, declaring the old boss, president bashir, had been overthrown. translation: i announce that the former head of the regime has been removed and is in a safe place. i announce the formation of a transitional military council that will manage the matters within the period of two years. with a few words he was deposed. in an age when civil society is challenging leaders across africa, the president had seemed on movable. had seemed unmovable. 0mar al—bashir came to power

in a military coup in 1989 and survived for 30 years through cunning and brutality, he was a master manipulator of his own party's factions. an indictment of genocide in darfur in 2010 wasn't enough to force his departure. he was a pariah in the west but still welcomed in africa and the middle east. but a spiralling economic crisis last year awakened decades of resentment. in khartoum, his face was vanishing. and for a generation which has known nothing but 0mar al—bashir‘s rule euphoria is understandable. translation: to see bashir stepping down is enough for us. 0h, our young people, this is such a big joy. translation: the protest will go on until the sudanese people are assured that their revolution will not be stolen from them. and what of these younger soldiers

who sided with the demonstrators? firing on a building where they believed bashir loyalists were preparing an attack. will they accept that the old guard hijacks the revolution? the fractures here are deep and dangerous. sudan doesn't fit into an easy tempered. military leaders yes but movements organised with mass support. and which tonight is defined the army curfew. they will do so until the people or the generals win the fight for sudan. the protest will go on until the people or the generals win the fight for sudan. fergal keane, bbc news.

you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme. from singapore to the usa, we meet the architect behind the weird and wonderful designs which dominates guidelines across the world. also on the programme, high hopes for the world's first private moon mission, but it ends in failure, thought to have crashed on the lunar surface. pol pot, one of this century's greatest mass murderers, is reported to have died of natural causes. he and the khmer rouge movement he led were responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million cambodians. there have been violent protests in indonesia where playboy has gone on sale for the first time. traditionalist muslim leaders have expressed disgust. the magazine's offices have been attacked and its editorial staff have gone into hiding. it was clear that paula's only contest was with the clock and as for exporting legacy, paula radcliffe's competitors

will be chasing her new world best time for years to come. quite quietly but quicker and quicker, she seemed to just to slide away under the surface and disappear. welcome back and thanks for staying with us. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. good to see you. i'm ben bland in london. our top stories. american prosecutors announce charges against wikileaks founder, julian assange following his arrest in london, his lawyer says he now faces extradition to the us. huge crowds take to the streets of sudan's capital after the military seizes power. south korea's ban on abortion has been ruled unconstitutional

in a historic court decision. the country's constitutional court ordered that the 1953 ban under must be revised by 2020. the ban said women who have abortions can be fined and imprisoned except in cases of rape, incest or risk to their health — must be revised by the end of 2020. 0ur correspondent laura bicker is in seoul. laura. this law has been in place since south korea was —— south korea was graded in 9053 and for six decades women would face up to two years in prison or a hefty fine if they carried out an abortion. —— created in 1953. however, that while was selectively prosecuted and many women say they did get abortions at the time but they were forced to go to underground clinics because doctors were unwilling to carry out the procedure. a side in the court was read out and there were tears on

both sides of this debate. first of all, i spoke to a woman who had an abortion and said that this decision made herfeel liberated. i can tell my truth to the whole world even if it is illegal because i know i am not wrong. and it was a choice for my wife and everybody should be able to do it. personally in my life, ifeel more free, i feel like do it. personally in my life, ifeel more free, ifeel like now do it. personally in my life, ifeel more free, i feel like now i am do it. personally in my life, ifeel more free, ifeel like now i am not illegal. and i am now more myself andi illegal. and i am now more myself and i am very proud of myself for surviving until now. south korea remains a deeply conservative and patriarchal society. there are a number —— large of evangelical christians and they say they will continue to fight this. anti—abortion activists outside the court were also upset that they see a glimmer of hope to influence the process because the law won't come into effect

immediately. now, the process is handed to politicians who have until december 2022 rewrite the law. and so december 2022 rewrite the law. and so both sides will try to make their voices heard over the next year and a half. 0k laura, thanks very much indeed. it was set to be a historic space achievement but israel has failed to become the fourth country to land on the moon. there were huge hopes today for this mission that was supposed to make space history, the world's first privately funded spacecraft set to land on the moon. the team were gathered at mission control in israel and at first, everything seemed to be going well. there was applause as an image was shown, this selfie taken by the spacecraft during its descent. but minutes later, the scientists started to look worried, there was news of a rocket engine restart. then, lost communications, and this was the final image taken moments before it crashed. after the crash, the control room

was in philosophical mood. we had a failure in the spacecraft. we unfortunately have not managed to land successfully. we are the seventh country to orbit the moon and the fourth to reach the moon's surface, and it's a tremendous achievement up to now. well, we didn't make it. but we definitely tried, and i think the achievement of getting to where we got is really tremendous. i think we can be proud. applause if at first, you don't succeed, you try again. israeli—canadian moshe safdie is one of the world's best known architects. he is currently based in boston but has done much work in singapore, including designing the city's

iconic marina bay sands building. you see adjust their behind me. mr safdie came to fame in 1967 with his design for habitat ‘67 in canada, a lego—like construct which began as a thesis project for his architecture programme at mcgill university. moshe safdiejoins me now. right here in the studio. welcome and how wonderful you have a really busy schedule travelling all around designing these incredible buildings and you have had a long and illustrious career as an architect, some might say a star architect. at yourjob comes with a massive amount of responsibility. you build buildings that will stay in a city's skyline, defined the characteristics of that city for decades. the scale of that city for decades. the scale of the projects we are involved in and their impact on the life of the city is daunting in terms of the

sense of responsibility. when we began marina bay sands may 15 years ago, we knew it would change the skyline. we did not know it would change the sense of the city above it. also, you go there and you see tens of thousands of people day in and day out and it is a good feeling because you know that life has been affected. we are taking look at footage of some of your greatest works from some of your work like habitat 67 and that will suck a wego building. you have the building in the tojob. building. you have the building in the to job. —— that looks like a lego building. which one is your favourite? favourites are difficult. but i have gone through several periods. habitat was a period of extra mentation, housing, new ideas, rethinking the apartment building. let's make liveable gardens with

houses. and in the ‘80s and 90s there were no takers. there was a regression in housing design. and i got involved with many institutions, in punjab, the holocaust museum, the national gallery of canada, the public library in vancouver. and that gave us the opportunity to create buildings that are the essence of a culture that you have to really capture the spirit of the place and the essence. and my architecture became about discovering cultural essence and giving expression in the architecture. what about this notion about the controversies of around weird architecture came to a head in china when xijinping said "we need to put a stop to building these weird buildings" and they have said no to architecture that is oversize, zen dose sent to, weird. what do you make of that and do you think of your computers —— peers making

strange buildings?” your computers —— peers making strange buildings? i think there is a point to president xi's concern. i think there have been extruding opportunities in china for architects. and there is a sense of... the project i'm doing and the birth place of the city is an extraordinary and important complex in terms of the future for that city for sub in terms of the future for that city forsub and in terms of the future for that city for sub and yet there are two schools in the profession. the sculptural school that once sensation, the wow effect instantly. but not that concerned with sustainability with the environment and quality of life. and then there are others of us who have essence of design which is for impacting the quality of life positively. china has had both. wasn't architects in china have taken advantage of this sense of adventure. and others have kind of abused it. and i think that

is the chief concern. he is actually focusing on one of the great questions faked seeing architecture today. and you are back here in singapore where you build an extension to the airport which looks externally but we do not get a chance to talk about that because we ran out of time for supper thank you so ran out of time for supper thank you so much for talking to us about some of your iconic buildings of course the one you could see right behind me here that was designed by moshe safdie. indeed, stunning architecture there. you have been watching newsday. i'm ben bland in london. and i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. stay with us. from critical to conciliatory. we and before we go, we'd like to leave you with these pictures. pilgrims in italy have been climbing the newly opened holy staircase in rome. the stairs have been closed since 1723, encased in wooden planks to protect the soft marble. it's believed thatjesus christ climbed the stairs before his judgment from pontius pilate. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news.

hello. the calendar is taking us forward into mid april but the weather seems to want to go backwards. more of a hint of winter, rather than spring in the weekend to come as we will see. for the day ahead, plenty of dry weather, there will be a bit more cloud in the sky then we have had recently, we are going to see some sunny spells. it is high pressure in control, blocking atlantic weather systems, keeping things settled, the flow of air is rather cool coming around that area of high pressure on an increasingly chilly and stronger wind this weekend. there will be a bit of frost around as friday starts, plenty of sunshine for early risers. the chance of catching one or two showers towards the eastern parts of scotland, and for the cloud building into east anglia in the southeast, it could be the odd shower around here during the morning and afternoon before drier air returns to england to give some sunshine to end the day. elsewhere, we start with sunshine,

we could see some cloud building but it will stay mainly dry. this easterly breeze is a bit stronger than it has been on recent days, keeping temperatures in the east around seven to ten degrees. ten to 12 in the west, may be 1a degrees again in north—west scotland. that is what we have had here for the past few days. the wind direction is favourable for a bit of warmth, and a bit of shelter here. let's take a look at the picture through the night and into saturday morning. some areas of cloud around, maybe still the odd shower feeding down towards the far south—east, on the whole, a lot of clear weather and yet again, gardeners and growers need to be aware, there will be a frost for many of us as the weekend begins. i love this view. high pressure, low pressure, at loggerheads for control of the weekend weather. high pressure though maintaining its control, winning the battle, and it stays with us through the weekend. but with a stronger wind coming in from the east, that will be more noticeable. there will be some sunshine around, some cloud building as saturday begins, while most places will stay

dry, still again for east anglian and south—east england, may be the odd passing shower, could include a bit of hail and maybe some sleet for the higher ground. it will feel a bit colder. the wind in the west is picking up over the weekend, noticeably so, maybe some gusts around to over 40mph in northern ireland. more cloud on sunday, maybe a bit of rain in the far west, cloud building after a sunday start elsewhere but still sunny spells, still most places staying dry and still coldest of the east, nowhere is particularly warm for the time of the year. temperatures are well below average now. so this is what we are expecting this weekend. dry, occasionalsunshine, a stronger wind, it will feel colder, frosty nights, it is next week temperatures are on the up again.