this is news day on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: donald trump lashes out at robert mueller 3 day after the former special counsel refused to clear the president of obstructing justice. the whole thing is a scam, it is a giant presidential harassment. russia did not help me get elected. you know who got me elect? i got me elected. russia did not help me at all. another front in the trade war — china will impose tariffs on $60 billion worth of american goods in just a few hours. i'm lewis vaughanjones in london.

also in the programme: as the syrian army closes in on the last rebel strongholds in the north, the un warns the lives of tens of thousands of children are at risk. keeping fit while fasting — we meet the athletes in singapore who are training hard while observing ramadan. glad you could join us. it's 7am in singapore, midnight in london and 7pm in washington dc where president trump has lashed out at robert mueller, the special counsel who investigated russian interference in the 2016 elections. in a io—minute outburst to reporters at the white house lawn before he boarded the presidential helicopter, mr trump called

the inquiry the "greatest presidential harassment in history" and claimed mr mueller was "totally conflicted." here's some of what he had to say. look, robert mueller should have never been chosen. he wanted the fbi job and he didn't get it and the next day he was picked as special counsel. you tell somebody i am sorry, you can't have the job, counsel. you tell somebody i am sorry, you can't have thejob, and after you say that he is going to make a ruling on you. it doesn't work that way. the —— plus we had a business dispute, plus his relationship with comey was extraordinary. russia did not help me get elected. i got me elected. russia did not help me at all. the whole thing is a scam, a giant presidential harassment. honestly, i hope it goes down as one of my latest achievements. i got more details from our washington correspondent,

chris buckler, as president trump hit back at robert mueller. it was a furious tie rate even by president trump standards. sometimes he gets angry and this was one of the occasions —— tyrade. those words yesterday from robert mueller in which the special counsel broke his silence after two years of that investigation and specifically came out and said if we had been confident that the president did not commita crime, confident that the president did not commit a crime, we would have said so. commit a crime, we would have said so. the underlying reason being that as far as he is concerned there are questions as far as he is concerned, particularly around that whole issue of whether or not he tried to obstruct justice. the of whether or not he tried to obstructjustice. the fact of whether or not he tried to obstruct justice. the fact that the special counsel came forward to say this was pretty unusual. it does suggest that he wanted to correct the record. after all these claims from president trump that he had been exonerated in his own words and there is frustration with how the us attorney general had looked at his

report and summarised it. frustration there from robert mueller. but they have hit back today as well. the attorney general has told us as far as he is concerned robert mueller could have come to a conclusion about the question of crime despite his suggestion that that was not possible. i personally felt he could have reached a decision. he could have reached a decision. he could have reached a conclusion? he could have reached a conclusion? he could have reached a conclusion. the opinion says he cannot indict a president while he is in office, but he could have reached an decision as to whether it was criminal activity. but he had his reasons for not doing it which he explained and i am not going to argue about those reasons. but when he didn't make a decision, the deputy attorney general and i felt it was necessary for us as the heads of the department to reach that decision. what is really frustrating the white house is that the ball has now been firmly passed to congress. the suggestion by

robert mueller that there are still questions their means now congressional committees can start to ta ke congressional committees can start to take into those, as they are already starting to do. it is what president trump described today as the dirty word of impeachment that continues to be talked about around washington. democrats, some of them are suggesting that impeachment proceedings should begin. there are others in the democratic leadership who are very nervous about that, but it does give you the sense that at the moment resident trump feels underfire the moment resident trump feels under fire and he the moment resident trump feels underfire and he is certainly prepared to head back. chris buckler there. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. hungarian police have arrested the captain of a river cruise ship, which is believed to have collided with a tourist boat on the danube in budapest. at least seven south koreans died when the boat sank. 21 people are still missing. our correspondent nick thorpe is in budapest. as darkness falls here in budapest,

very little chance, almost zero chance in fact finding any more survivors, though the rescue boats are still out on the river. the hungarian navigation authority has said that at this time of day, when the accident happened, normally about 70 70 boats are on the river. just 26 metres long and much larger craft like the viking, the river passenger ship which collided, it is still uncertain circumstances. that was a 135 metre long ship, 1000 tons compared to the a0 times of the smaller ship involved in this collision. video footage has emerged to what appears to be the moment of the collision in the moment leading up the collision in the moment leading up to it, and you can see clearly on those pictures the smaller boatjust a moment that the larger ship tries to overtake it as they are passing together underneath the arch of margaret bridge, the smaller boat appears to swerve right under the

bow of the larger ship. according to eyewitnesses and the rescue services, the smaller ship sank within seconds. we understand that the south korean foreign minister and relatives of the victims are now on their way to hungary. also making news today, the indian prime minister, narendra modi, has taken an oath in front of thousands of cheering supporters in the capital delhi as he begins his second term. 57 members of his cabinet were sworn in along with him in a grand ceremony at the presidential palace. the singer r kelly has been charged with 11 more sexual offences. court records reportedly show they relate to sexual assault of a minor between the age of 13 and 16. earlier this year, the r&b artist was charged with 10 counts of criminal sexual abuse. he pleaded not guilty and has been released on bail. a baby born weighing just 2a0g

thought to be the smallest on record to survive a premature birth has been discharged from hospital in the us. saybie weighed the same as a large apple when she was born at 23 weeks and three days in december last year. despite the slim chances of survival, she has now left hospital and is healthy. the trade war between the us and china shows no sign of easing up. in a few hours from now, china is expected to impose increased tariffs on about $60 billion worth of us imports including meat, cooking oil and vegetables. with me is our business reporter monica miller. tell us what sparked this new round of tariffs. this is beijing's

retaliation for what the us did to them earlier this month, and that was on $200 billion worth of chinese goods. this happened after the trump administration decided that they we re administration decided that they were not happy with the way discussions were going. a lot of rhetoric between the us and china regarding this escalating trade war. yes, in fact earlier this week in a state run chinese newspaper, they said, don't say we didn't warn you, and today this is playing out. bloomberg is reporting chinese have 110w bloomberg is reporting chinese have now stopped buying american soybeans. why american soybeans? this is a strategic move on beijing's half. this is going to head to the farmers who voted for president trump and basically at this point it is going to really hit them in the pocket. farmers are dealing not just with them in the pocket. farmers are dealing notjust with the tariffs, but they are also dealing with bad weather, they have had floods and tornadoes and this is going to make things much worse. they are now saying that they are really being hit by this, and whether they go to the polls, will they have resident trump's support? president trump tried to win them over, he is trying

to help them out. about $60 billion worth of money, something he did not coming in enough. the chinese are criticising the americans by calling this ongoing trade conflict economic terrorism. thank you for the update. my terrorism. thank you for the update. my colleague and business reporter monica miller. the united nations is warning that tens of thousands of children are at immediate risk of being killed or forced to flee for their lives because of intense fighting in northern syria. president assad's army is closing in on the last stronghold of opposition forces. syrian government troops backed by russian air power are attacking idlib province where rebel islamist fighters are making a last stand. 0ur middle east editor jeremy bowen reports. this is life and death in idlib, the last province in syria controlled by rebels. civil defence workers,

the white helmets, are digging civilians out of buildings, destroyed, it seems certain, by attacks from the regime side. this boy survived. his three siblings did not. unicef, the un children's agency, says tens of thousands of children are in danger as, once again, syria's war escalates. this should be no surprise to the world. syria's slow death follows a pattern. injanuary 2017, i walked through the ruins of al-quds hospital in east aleppo, the rebel enclave that had just fallen to the regime and its russian and iranian allies. thousands of casualties were treated here during the siege. the medics had left in a hurry after shells hit the building. this whole area is damaged.

hospitals, civilian buildings are protected under international humanitarian law, so there are major questions to be answered about whether war crimes were committed. wars are less chaotic than they appear. pain and death are inflicted on someone's orders. and wars have laws. some are supposed to protect civilians. in syria, they've mostly been ignored. hamza al khataeb, one of the doctors, says he witnessed war crimes every day that killed and maimed civilians. two years on, in london, he'd like to see the perpetrators in court. the syrian regime and the russians — no—one else has the aeroplanes to make the sky rain cluster bombs, explosive barrels and chlorine gas. no—one else can do that.

what would you like to have happen to them? justice, just justice. syria's war has destroyed a country, killed perhaps 500,000 people and let overwhelming evidence of war crimes by all sides according to un investigators. all the countries involved in syria's multi—layered war have questions to answer. this is raqqa, once the beating heart of the jihadist islamic state. the americans, helped by the british, levelled it. amnesty, the human rights group, condemned them for not acknowledging how many civilians they'd killed. rebels, now mainlyjihadist extremists, continue their fight out of idlib, but the president's side has almost won the war. was this recent regime airstrikea warcrime? possibly.

it buried this child and killed another. but turning evidence into prosecutions is difficult. syria's wounds would have a better chance to heal if war criminals faced the law. but victors' justice tends to apply when the fighting stops, so it looks as if the regime and its allies, for now at least, will be safe. jeremy bowen, bbc news. you're watching newsday on the bbc. live from singapore and london. still to come on the programme: a sri lankan politician shot and badly injured a month ago. one of the first victims of the extremist network behind the easter bombings. also on the programme: how do muslim athletes keep up their training regime while fasting from dawn to dusk during ramadan? 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 7am. 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 a,500 episodes. the chat show has made her one of the richest people on the planet. geri halliwell, otherwise known as ginger spice, has announced she has left the spice girls. ah, 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: donald trump lashes out at robert mueller a day after the former special counsel refused to clear the president of obstructing justice. another front in the trade war — china will impose tariffs on $60 billion worth of american goods in just a few hours. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. and on the front page of the new york times, international edition, is an interview with a former chinese army lieutenant who witnessed the tiananmen crackdown in 1989. for 30 years, jiang lin kept quiet about the carnage that she saw but now she's decided to tell her story and calls for a ‘public reckoning'

of the event. shifting now our attention... two days after the knife attack on a group of school children in kawasaki, the japan times reveals that the suspect had been living as a recluse. relatives of the suspect, ryuichi iwasaki, expressed their concerns to the authorities long before the mass stabbing took place, but they did not contact him. and finally, the philippine daily inquirer broke the news that president rodrigo duterte has approved the public auction of a jewellery collection seized from the former first lady imelda marcos. the collection's value is estimated at $13.5 million. mr duterte has asked that all the money be used to benefit the philippine public. those other papers. —— are the. it's just over a month since supporters of so—called

islamic state launched a wave of suicide bombings in sri lanka. more than 250 people died in a series of attacks on churches and hotels used by foreigners. since then, more details have been emerging of the terrorist cell behind the attacks and the missed opportunities to stop them. 0ur correspondent secunder kermani has been looking into the case of a local muslim politician who's paid dearly for helping to investigate the extremists. paralysed on his left side and unable to speak, this man was one of the first of them is of an extremist network that would go on to strike terror in sri lanka. the muslim former local politician narrowly survived an assassination attempt in march. it all began when radical islamist struck his own town back in december —— hometown, vandalising a series of now repaired buddhist statues. his wife says he volunteered to help police

investigate in an effort to keep peace between muslim and buddhist communities. translation: i'm very proud of him. he stepped up when no—one else did, because he always opposes any kind of injustice. he said our religion does not permit such act, we need to catch those responsible. while searching for the suspects, police we re searching for the suspects, police were tipped off about a huge stash of explosives hidden in this remote coconut grove. it is now believed the explosives were linked to this radical preacher who would go on to become the ringleader of the easter bombings. investigators believe he's sent a gunman to his home to punish him for cooperating with police. it was the early hours of the morning that the attackers entered the house do this back door. and it seems they

had done their preparation because somehow they knew exactly where to head. they came to his bedroom. they found him here, lying next to his wife and youngest child and they shot him once in the head. translation: at first i thought the phone charger had exploded, but i look and it was fine. then i tried to wa ke look and it was fine. then i tried to wake him up, and i could smell gunpowder. i reached out to him and i realised he wasn't conscious. month later, sri lanka was rocked by a string of suicide bombings. the authorities believe they were carried out by part of the same network he had been trying to help dismantle. even before the incidents, we were getting closer to the information point, confirming that it was the same extremist group. singularly in light of the discovery of these explosives on this farmland, shouldn't that have

been more of a warning sign for the authorities than it was?|j been more of a warning sign for the authorities than it was? i believe what was carried, but we had some information and intelligence sharing situations. his youngest son calls out for his father whenever he sees photographs of him. the family are worried that despite his efforts to tackle the extremist, is not getting all the help he needs. a forgotten victim of sri lanka's deadly attacks. secunder kermani, bbc news. finding the time and energy for regular exercise is hard enough, but imagine doing it when you're fasting from dawn to dusk. that's the reality faced by muslim sports lovers around the world who are currently observing ramadan. lucy martin reports from singapore on the challenge of combining faith with fitness.

the ancient martial art known as sealer requires patience, agility and mental strength —— silat. this tea m and mental strength —— silat. this team is in the middle of a gruelling session and they are doing it on a empty stomach. it's taaffe, but i guess it's all about endurance. so, whenever i train i do feel very thirsty because water is very important for me. it's ramadan, the holy month, when millions of muslims around the world abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset. ita time and drinking from sunrise to sunset. it a time for spiritual reflection and prayer, but it also presents a challenge for these up leads who are ramping up their training ahead of this year's south—east asian games. i get thirsty and it's just this year's south—east asian games. i get thirsty and it'sjust like, going to be half—an—hour and then

you can drink, you can eat all you want, it's not going to give you or anything. practising muslims can be formally excused from fasting if they are sick or have to travel. there is an ongoing debate about whether professional athletes should also be excused. but for now, it's a personal choice. 0nce also be excused. but for now, it's a personal choice. once the sun goes down, the team breaks fast together. then, it's back to work. it's not just professional athletes who juggle just professional athletes who juggle fasting with fitness. just professional athletes who juggle fasting with fitnesslj just professional athletes who juggle fasting with fitness. i am hangry, but now it is more ofjust controlling the emotions as well. rhianna runs marathons in her spare time. i actually feel weird rhianna runs marathons in her spare time. i actually feelweird if rhianna runs marathons in her spare time. i actually feel weird if i start exercising, so the trick is to find the time when it is best to do it -- find the time when it is best to do it —— riana.

find the time when it is best to do it -- riana. she does like training before breaking fast with water. that was so worth it. and chocolate. it's not the nicest, but it will do the trick. they say there's no why they can't combine faith and fitness. we modify training sessions, keep a balanced diet and stay hydrated. for those counting down the days, next week marks the end of ramadan. and that's followed bya end of ramadan. and that's followed by a holiday which is all about catching up with friends and family and, of course, feasting. lucy martin, bbc news, singapore. next, african island cape verde is known for its beautiful beaches that attract hundreds of thousands of tourists a year. but recently those beaches have been covered with large craters dug by so—called ‘sand thieves‘, most are women. the volcanic sand is used to make

cement and the women can earn more than $33 a week selling it. but environmentalists warn the ecological consequences can be disastrous. you have been watching newsday. i‘m lewis vaughanjones in london. and i‘m rico hizon in singapore. stay with us. billion dollar loss — the ride—hailing giant uber delivers its first earnings report as a public company. we‘ll have the latest on those figures coming up on asia business report. and before we go, we‘d like to leave you with these pictures. two baby ring—tailed lemurs have become the latest attraction at rome zoo. there they are. they were born in april, but they‘re only out in public 110w. their mothers carry them around when their young. ring—tailed lemurs are native to madagascar, and listed as an endangered species. very cute, aren‘t they, rico? very cute, aren't they, rico? yes.

that‘s us from here in london and rico in singapore. do stay with us on bbc news. you may have heard by now that it is turning a lot warmer, but the forecast isn‘t quite as straightforward infarct. it‘s not going to be turning hot everywhere, and infact going to be turning hot everywhere, and in fact some areas are still in for some rain. but i think the main m essa 9 es yes , for some rain. but i think the main messages yes, broadly speaking, we are all, at least for some warmth. but a lot of cloud out there right 110w. but a lot of cloud out there right now. it‘s very muggy — a very muggy night with temperatures in the mid— teens in some areas of the uk. this is what it looks like the early hours of friday, some bits and pieces of rain around western scotland, some in northern ireland, a scattering of rain across parts of the lake district and the temperatures are 1a in london on

friday. a lot fresher far north, only five degrees. he is the forecast for friday, moist south—westerly winds will dragon a lot of cloud, mist and merc around the coast. rain in northern ireland. by the coast. rain in northern ireland. by the time this weather front is through we will have seen about ao-so through we will have seen about a0—50 millimetres of rain, that‘s a lot. the warmest and brightest of the weather will be across central and southern areas. temperatures reaching 22, but not clear, blue skies. there will be a rare amounts of cloud on friday. —— a fair amount, the oranges warm air spreading across much of europe. in fa ct, spreading across much of europe. in fact, the new confident the images will be reading 30 degrees —— reaching. we will get some of that warmth, it will be reaching towards southern and central areas. this portion of the uk will see temperatures may be in the high 20s in one or two spots. but further north, it‘s a case of more cloud.

0nly north, it‘s a case of more cloud. only 17 in belfast, squeezing 19 there in newcastle. then it‘s all changed because on sunday a low pressure comes in off the atlantic, it brings some showers, almost anywhere, really. it does sort of spoil the second half of the weekend a little bit. and it will turn fresher. in fact, temperatures will start to back away into the low 20s across the southern and eastern areas. so that high isjust across the southern and eastern areas. so that high is just a one—day wonder. in fact, the low pressure is with us during the course of monday and tuesday. you can see there it‘s anchored to the north of scotland. that does mean after that brief spell, on saturday, from sunday onwards and into next week it will be turning cooler.

i‘m lewis vaughan jones with bbc news. our top story: president trump has launched a fierce personal attack on robert mueller. it comes a day after the former special counsel refused to exonerate the president of obstruction of justice. mr trump described mr mueller as totally conflicted. the trade war between the us and china shows no sign of easing. in just a few hours, china is expected to impose tariffs on about $60 billion worth of us imports, including cooking oil and vegetables. and this story is doing well on bbc.com. a baby born weighing just 2a0 grammes, thought to be the tiniest on record to survive a premature birth, has been discharged from hospital in the us. saybie weighed the same as a large apple when she was born at 23 weeks and three days. that‘s all. stay with bbc world news.