i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: america's opioid epidemic. now, a major drugs company goes on trial in a landmark court case. we're not a dumping ground. malaysia says it is sending back thousands of tons of imported plastic waste to the countries of origin. i'm lewis vaughanjones in london. also in the programme: european leaders meet to thrash out who gets the eu's top jobs, and already there is disagreement. torn apart by the islamic state group, the yazidi families of iraq rebuilding their lives after the fall of is.

islamic state group is on the run now, but the pain and suffering that they've caused has been amplified with tens of thousands of families here in iraq, and in syria too, and that's going to take generations to recover from. good morning. it is 8:00am in singapore, 1:00am in london and 6:00pm in the evening in the us state of oklahoma, where one of the world's largest drug manufacturers, johnson & johnson, is on trial.

it is accused of fuelling the opioid epidemic in the country by deceptively marketing painkillers and downplaying the risks of addiction to opioid medications. the company denies wrongdoing and says it marketed its products appropriately. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes told me more about the legal action. well, they are strongly, as you say, denying those charges, and they say that their marketing over the years has not been deceptive. it was never their intention to, as they have been accused of, to flood the market with these drugs. in fact, they say that their marketing statements were along the same lines as the us government, going back a decade or so ago, the food and drug administration talking about — in fact, in one specific statement saying that these painkillers when properly managed rarely cause addiction. that was a government statement, and the company says it simply followed that same line. and one of the lawyers for the company looked around the court and said, look, we all know what severe,

intense pain is like. we've probably all hit our thumb with a hammer and experienced that pain. imagine living with intense pain for a very, very long time — saying and paraphrasing what the argument is, saying, look, they were trying to balance the management of pain, which is a huge problem with so many people, and the risk of addiction. so, peter, what does this state case mean for the other thousands of pending cases? well, yes, you're right. there's almost 2,000 pending cases, some likely to come to court later on this year. and the significance of this is that the lawyers from those cases around the country will be watching closely. if there is a huge judgement against this company, well, it could set a benchmark for future judgements. it could also set a benchmark for possible out—of—court settlements in the future. a lot of people closely watching

the fine detail as to the arguments that come out in this case, a benchmark case, the fine detail from both sides. let's take a look at some of the day's other news: france and germany have disagreed over who should take one of the european union's top jobs. chancellor angela merkel wants an mep from her centre—right grouping to be commission president, but the french leader, emmanuel macron, isn't keen. eu leaders have been meeting for the first time since last week's parliamentary elections, where the main centrist groups lost out to greens and nationalists, and it appears that mr macron would like some fresh faces at the top of the eu. translation: the key for me is that the people in the positions to share our project should be the most charismatic, creative and competent. that's all, i don't have any other criteria. for the four nominations, we have to find a balance, after all. it's important for me to have gender balance in these nominations,

that we have two men and two women. it's important for me to have the best possible profile, to have a balance in political and geographical sensibilities. the french president, emmanuel macron. also making news today: the united nations children's agency, unicef, says education in afghanistan is underfire. the report suggests the number of attacks on afghan schools almost tripled last year compared with the previous year. more than 1,000 schools are closed because of the threat of violence from groups such as the taliban and islamic state. a court injapan has refused to pay extra damages to two women who were forcibly sterilised a0 years ago, under a law that was abolished in 1996. the eugenics law was designed to prevent the birth of what the government considered inferior children. lawyers for the two women in the sendai case say the compensation is insufficient. nepalese authorities say they have retrieved ten tons of rubbish from mount everest as this year's

climbing season comes to an end. global warming means that glaciers are melting and revealing waste, including plastic bottles, empty cans and discarded climbing gear. as a grim reminder of the dangers facing mountaineers, four bodies have also been recovered from the slopes. in the united states, a clean—up has begun after dozens of tornados tore through the states of ohio and indiana, killing at least one person. emergency workers are trying to restore power to the homes of 80,000 people. the authorities are warning of more severe weather to come in the next 2a hours. the malaysian government has ordered thousands of tons of imported plastic waste to be sent back to its countries of origin. the government says it no longer wants the country to be a dumping ground for waste from wealthier countries. it has received a growing amount

of plastic waste since china banned it from being imported last year. 0ur south—east asia correspondent jonathan head reports. importing waste from europe, the us and japan has long been a profitable business in asia. looser environmental regulations and a workforce willing to tackle the hazardous job of processing it makes asia a cheaper place to send it. that is now coming to an end. responding to growing public complaints, the malaysian environment minister, yeo bee yin, took reporters to the country's main port and showed them nine containers filled with mixed plastic and electronic waste. she ordered them sent back to their countries of origin. malaysians, like any other developing countries, have a right to clean air, clean water, sustainable resources, and clean environment to live in, just like citizens of developed nations.

the philippines government has also demanded that canada take back 69 containers of rubbish which have been rotting in filipino ports for several years. thailand says it will ban all imports of plastic and e—waste within the next ten years. pressure is building on indonesia to follow suit. all these countries have experienced a dramatic increase in waste imports since china banned them last year. much of the waste is wrongly labelled, and poor law enforcement means it is often disposed of unsafely. some of that plastic waste might also be because of the poor control of waste here, ending up in the seas in this part of the world. it's a massive problem, because of course if developed countries, it's notjust europe, it's america, it's japan as well, cannot send their waste here, they're going to have to figure out

what to do with it back home, where it's much more expensive and people are far more resistant to have it happen. and frankly, i think what the message is, there's going to have to be an entire transformation of consumer packaging and consumer behaviour if we're going to cut down on amounts of waste that now nobody in the world wants to take. with the fall of so—called islamic state in syria, hundreds of its prisoners have been freed. many of them are yazidis, a religious minority who were captured and enslaved when is swept through their homeland in sinjar, northern iraq. those who survived are now trying to rebuild their lives. 0ur middle east correspondent quentin sommerville sent this report from northern iraq. five years without play, five years of cruelty, five years a slave. ii—year—old nashaat is now free from the islamic state group's torment. translation: they would buy us children, no matter what the age, and make us servants, and buy women of any age and make them wives. they treated their children nicely,

like a piece of gold, but they kicked us out at night to sleep in the garden or the sheepfold. i don't know why they would buy us, if they didn't want to look after us. is brought ruin to his town of sinjar, in iraq. not farfrom here, they murdered the men, and then they took the women and children, sold into a life of servitude. most thought they'd never see sinjar again. many did not. terror that is brought here to the yazidi people was genocide, says the united nations. for his last years in syria, forced to convert to islam, he was alone with monsters. his father had escaped, but his mother, sister and brothers were sold to is fighters and their families. nashaat‘s family was traded half a dozen times. four years ago, nashaat‘s mother's freedom was bought. for fawzia, here in the pink,

it was a bittersweet moment. nashaat and his sisterjolene were still trapped in syria with is. granted asylum in germany, she had no peace while her children were missing. translation: our kids were crying. each hour, is would come and take the young women and the children from their mothers. we were forced to live in disgrace and humiliation. they treated us like sheep. they told me, "a man has bought you." i said, "i'd rather be killed than go with that man." then in march this year, nashaat‘s sister, nine—year—old jolene, was found. safely in iraq, she tries to forget about the last five years of work, cruelty and forced prayer. she speaks rarely now. but this is all in the past. now, nashaat and jolene wait at an airport in iraq. their mum is flying in from germany.

so much has stood in the way of this embrace. weeping. under the same roof for the first time in years, the family can finally sleep without fear. we all know the islamic state group's crimes on the battlefield, but this is where it's really felt. they tried to destroy this family. they tried to wipe out the entire yazidi people. but they didn't, they failed. islamic state group is on the run now, but the pain and the suffering that

they've caused has been amplified with tens of thousands of families here in iraq, and in syria too, and that's going to take generations to recover from. but countless other yazidi families will never be reunited. the yazidis were a people that their country and the west failed to protect. despite this, nashaat‘s family endured, and that in itself is another victory against the islamic state group. quentin sommerville, bbc news, northern iraq. you are watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: eight years after the meltdown at japan's fu kushima nuclear power plant, people are being allowed to return to their homes. but do they want to? in the biggest international sporting spectacle ever seen, up to 30 million people have taken part in sponsored athletic events to aid famine relief in africa. the first of what the makers of star wars hope will be thousands of queues

started forming at 7:00am. taunting which led to scuffles, scuffles to fighting, fighting to full—scale riot, as the liverpool fans broke out of their area and into the juve ntus enclosure. the belgian police had lost control. the whole world will mourn the tragic death of mr nehru today. he was the father of the indian people from the day of independence. the oprah winfrey show comes to an end after 25 years and more than 4,500 episodes. the chat show has made her one of the richest people on the planet. geri haliwell, otherwise known as ginger spice, has announced she has left the spice girls. i don't believe it! she's the one with the bounce, the go, the girl power. not geri. why?

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon, in singapore. i'm lewis vaughanjones, in london. our top stories: a landmark trial opens in oklahoma, as the state takes on a major drugs company over the epidemic killing nearly 1,000 americans every week. malaysian authorities are warning the country isn't a dumping ground. they have ordered thousands of tons of imported plastic waste, to be returned to the countries of origin. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world: the south china morning post is leading with what it calls the "unravelling" trade negotiations between the us and china. two separate chinese sources have told the paper that one of the key problems is the us demand that china completely opens its internet. next is the japan times.

on its front page is the knife attack in kawasaki, in which two people were killed. the paper says doctors fear that many of the 15 injured schoolchildren may develop post—traumatic stress disorder. and finally the straits times, with some good news for singapore. a report by swiss business school imd says the republic has become the world's most competitive economy, ahead of hong kong, the us, switzerland and the united arab emirates. those are the papers. eight years after the meltdown at the fukushima nuclear power plant injapan, people are finally being allowed to return to their homes. they were evacuated from the area when a huge tsunami struck in 2011, precipitating a triple meltdown at the daiichi power plant. now around just under half

of the land in the small town of okuma has been cleaned up. so, are people coming home? our tokyo correspondent rupert wingfield hayes has been there to find out. oops, i pulled the whole lot out. salad fresh from the fields of fu kushima. speaks japanese. (no (n0 audio translation available). i am eating their salad without asking. after eight years as a nuclear refugee, this 70—year—old man is back in his fields. this is very interesting, this man has come back here, planted his crops. this is basically for his own consumption and to experiment, to see what grows here, whether it's safe after it's grown. he says they have taken the top five centimetres of soil,

it's been removed from his fields and from his garden here, and he said consequently it is not nearly as good as it used to be. on a nearby field, in giant letters, the japanese words "we came back". they were planted by this 80—year—old man. translation: i have been back many times, so i am not worried about radiation at all. only a tiny part of okuma has been reopened, the rest remaining completely off—limits. as we have driven down into okuma town proper, the old town, the atmosphere completely changed. you can see the gates, abandoned buildings, nothing has been touched here for eight years. the centre of the town is four kilometres from the nuclear reactors of fu kushima. before the accident,

11,000 people lived here. you can see by the door post here, the name of the man who took us on patrol this morning. this is his house. he couldn't come with us because he is busy, but he can't come back here, and this is how it has been for the last eight years or more, because this is considered a high radiation zone still. this is a hotspot, and you can see it is because water has gathered here, and the water tends to, when it washes down from the hills, it tends to bring a lot of radiation with it. you can see just this local area he has a particularly high reading. this is the first time i have been back here in the exclusion zone around the powerplant in about 3.5 years, but it doesn't get any less strange. radiation levels, we have taken measurements, they are much higher than outside the exclusion zone, around ten to 15 times higher.

whether the levels here are a danger to human health is open to debate. some scientists say you could quite safely live here without much damage to your health. others say that can't be determined. whatever the truth about that, this place is now pretty much abandoned for the foreseeable future. there are no plans to clean it up, no plans for people to move back here. the us is a "dominant underachiever" when it comes to wielding power in asia and it should watch its back for the rapidly rising china. that's according to the lowy institute's annual asia power index, which ranks countries on the power they hold in the asia—pacific region. it takes into account factors such as military capability, diplomatic influence and resilience. for more on the results, i'm joined by herve lemahieu, who is the director of the lowy institute's asian power and diplomacy programme.

great to have you with us in singapore. thank you. is way one factor over the other? we take a comprehensive exercise and look at not only what countries have what they do with what they have. it is nice to have a big economy but you need to be investing in strategically pivotal countries. it is nice to have a nice military but you need to be investing in diplomacy. there are 120 indicators, and 35 data points. the us has underachieved but remains a power. this difference between the us and china has narrowed. it is complicated but does this index fit into the current news narrative that

we already know or doesn't tell as an alternative story? it is a somewhat counterintuitive because what it does is give us the bigger framework. we are moving into a new era of great power relations. from an open and consensual world order following the cold war back to something defined by competition and a zero—sum politics. it has three consequences. first our data suggests under most plausible scenarios, short of war, the us will not be able to halt the difference between itself and china. second, globalisation will still involve us and china but less and less the two together. we're about decoupling the two largest economies and that will result in hazardous and economic influences. the belt road initiative of china, key factors on why the

americans are now underachievers? that's right. the trump administration's focus on balancing trade administration's focus on balancing tra d e flows administration's focus on balancing trade flows one country at a time, renegotiating trade agreements is not keeping pace with china's economics of power. china faces its own issues. growing this agreement. places renegotiating the terms of big projects. china faces its own set of external problems and a great deal of distrust as well. china is also its biggest challenge? the biggest challenge to china's rise is itself and let's not forget that china is and ages society. that p resa 9 es china is and ages society. that presages all sorts of political and

social challenges to come. over the past year we have seen two major north korea — us summits. it seems like it is now a major player in the region but is this power game of kim jong—un sustainable? region but is this power game of kim jong-un sustainable? that is questionable. certainly in 2019 he has played this game very well. it isa has played this game very well. it is a smaller economy than laos. this is a smaller economy than laos. this is asymmetric nuclear power. kim jong—un has transformed his image and elevated the country. who was the biggest loser in this index? sadly it is taiwan. let's not forget it still presents a big check to china's ambitions to become a full—fledged maritime power. taiwan is done on diplomatic influences, it

has lost two more countries that recognise that previously as the main china. but it is up on defence diplomacy and technology so there are silver linings into this. thank you for sharing your research. thank you. with that we and this addition of newsday. and before we go, we'd like to leave you with these pictures. a snowboarder practicing on the sand dunes in central vietnam, a country known for warm, tropical weather. vietnam has no ski slopes and most of people here have never seen snow. but a handful of athletes are pioneering a push to promote winter sports, despite the lack of funding and training facilities. you should try that out, lewis! stay

with us here on a bbc news. hello. it looks like being a very warm start to the weekend across some parts of the uk, but right now we are in a spell of cooler weather, there has been a bit of rain, there's another chance of rain on the way during wednesday. an atlantic weather system pushes outbreaks of rain eastwards is the day goes on. here it comes. ahead of that, with clearing skies, it'll be a fairly chilly start to wednesday with a of dry weather around, and a few showers rushing through the northern isles. single figures for most, and cold enough across parts of northern england, especially in scotland. in the coldest spots, a touch of frost. already that weather system coming in, outbreaks of rain feeding towards western england, into wales, northern ireland, and on towards southern scotland. feeding further east during the day, early sunshine across eastern england, cloud building, maybe a shower,

not a huge amount of rain arriving until late afternoon or into the evening. in northern scotland, it will have the lion's share of the sunshine. notice the wind switching direction, the breeze moving from a northerly more to a southerly, and that will bring in some warmer air, but on wednesday nowhere is particularly warm. heavy showers in the northern isles, and single figures for some of us. on the south—westerly breeze, some warmer air drawing in from the south—west, more humid on wednesday night into thursday morning. plenty of cloud and outbreaks of rain. chilly in northern scotland, and elsewhere temperatures starting the day on thursday into double figures, mild and muggy start to the day. we will draw in ever warmer air, particularly in parts of england and wales, on through the rest of the week into the start of the weekend. weather fronts never far away from scotland, northern ireland, north—west england and north wales at times, and on thursday plenty of cloud around, it feels humid, some patchy rain. some cloud breaking through central

and eastern areas of england, and this is where we will get to see some warm and sunny spells coming in. the temperatures peaking in the upper 20s in some areas. cloud and outbreaks of rain in scotland and northern ireland, but that will hold temperatures down. for some it will be into the midteens. the weather system will move south at some point, uncertainty over the timing, but at the moment it looks like the warmth of england and will peak on saturday, then it will turn cooler and feel less humid by sunday.

you are watching bbc news.

our top story: a landmark trial related to the opioid crisis opens in the us. the state of oklahoma is suing the pharmaceutical companyjohnson & johnson, alleging it carried out deceptive marketing campaigns for painkillers. it denies any wrongdoing. malaysian authorities are warning the country isn't a dumping ground. they have ordered thousands of tons of imported plastic waste to be retrurned to the countries of origin. —— returned to the countries of origin. and this video is trending on bbc.com. there's expensive coffee, and then there's this. klatch coffee in san francisco is offering its finest blend for $75 a cup. the beans come from panama and sell for more than $1,600 a kilo.