hello, everyone. this is newsday. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: a special investigation by the bbc reveals how muslim children in china, some as young as two, are being systematically separated from theirfamilies. we uncover evidence of boarding schools surrounded by barbed wire housing children from the minority uighur community. families of victims of the boeing plane crash in ethiopia speak exclusively to the bbc about their search for justice. i'm lewis vaughanjones in london.

also in the programme: critics say he's politicised independence day to boost his re—election campaign, but president trump hasn't let the rain spoil his 4th ofjuly parade. with this very special salute to america, we celebrate our history, oui’ america, we celebrate our history, our people and the heroes who proudly defend ourflag. the brave men and women of the united states military. cheering and as we gear up for this weekend's final, we'll be asking if the women's world cup has become a game—changer for sponsorship and equal pay. announcer: live from our studios in singapore and london. this is bbc world news. it's newsday.

good morning. it's 8am in singapore, 1am in london and 8am in the morning in xinjiang in the far west of china, where the bbc has uncovered disturbing evidence that muslim children are being systematically separated from theirfamilies. official documents show that large numbers of state boarding schools have been built to house children as young as two. china correspondent john sudworth has more. it's long been known that the mass incarceration of hundreds of thousands of adults in that part of china is likely to have an effect on wider society and on children in particular. our investigation quantifies it. we looked at publicly available government documents on the internet and we carried out dozens of interviews with families based overseas.

what we found is evidence the campaign against muslim adults is having a powerful effect on children's faith and family. in account after account, gathered in a meeting hall in istanbul, muslims from xinjiang speak again and again of the immeasurable grief of separation from their children. who is looking after the children? back home china has been sweeping xinjiang's uighurs, kazakhs and other minorities, who have their own languages and culture, into giant camps, where they're taught chinese

and to love the communist party. abdurahman tohti moved to turkey in 2013. three years ago, his wife and children went back to xinjiang for a short trip and vanished. but then he found this — a video posted online of his son in a boarding school, speaking not in uighur, his mother tongue, but in chinese. alongside the camps, china has been building something else. giant new schools, many with huge dormitories. this kindergarten sleeps hundreds. we film at one camp.

while the adults are kept here, their children are in this nearby school. and this kindergarten has barbed wire, cameras and signs that say only chinese should be spoken. this man from the chinese propaganda bureau denies large numbers of children have been left without parents. but such cases are not hard to find. amine wayit, who now runs a clothes shop in turkey, recently found this picture of her stepdaughter on social media. it's a sign her close relatives are in the camps, her stepdaughter in a boarding school and wearing traditional chinese costume.

if you could send a message to akida today, what would you tell her? research of online documents commissioned by the bbc shows only an 8% increase in kindergarten places for china as a whole, but in xinjiang, as the camps have been built, there's been an 82% jump, and in some uighur—majority areas, numbers have shot up even further. the xinjiang government is attempting to get full control over the young generation, to literally raise a new generation that has been cut off from original roots, from religious beliefs, from cultural knowledge, even from their own language. i believe the evidence really points what we must call cultural genocide. kalida akytkankyzy has moved to kazakhstan,

but when she heard that the chinese camps had left her 14 grandchildren without parents, she phoned the village official. we try to look for her missing relatives. the family home is locked and deserted. we call the village official. but he hangs up on us too. we find only the signs of a giant vanishing and the shattering of countless families. what our reporting has shown, i think, is the scale, the extent of

what is happening in that part of the world. it may be a distant part of the world but it is vitally important. china says it's fighting for its security and stability. critics, though, would say it tells us an critics, though, would say it tells us an important lesson aboutjust what can happen in places where there are no fundamental rights or protections of legal freedoms. john sudworth with that special investigation there. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. this is the moment an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 struck in southern california. these pictures show the newsroom at a local tv station, kcbs, shaking as the quake hit. it's the largest to strike the region in two decades and was felt as far away as los angeles and las vegas. there are no reports of injuries or deaths. also making news today: russia's president vladimir putin has met the pope during a one—day visit to italy. their meeting could potentially pave the way for a papal visit to russia. mr putin also met both the italian president and prime ministerfor a news

conference, where they discussed russia's relationship with the european union. chunks of red meat from the first whales caught injapan‘s return to commercial whaling have been fetching high prices at auctions across the country. some cuts sold for up to $140 per kilogram. japan made a controversial return to commercial whaling earlier this month, after a moratorium lasting more than 30 years. it plans on hunting more than 200 whales for their meat between now and december. a new study says there's enough space around the world to replant trees across an area the size of the united states. the study, published in thejournal science, says this could reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 25%. a 3,000 year—old bust of tutankhamun has been sold forjust under $6 million. egypt's foreign ministry had called

on auction house christie's to cancel the sale, claiming it was probably stolen from a temple in the 1970s. but christie's says egypt had not expressed concern about the bust before, despite it being on public display. families of 157 people who were killed when a plane crashed in ethiopia believe the aircraft manufacturer boeing's commercial motivation led to the death of their relatives. speaking exclusively to the bbc, bereaved families believe criminal charges should be brought if wrongdoing is revealed by investigators. simon browning reports. everywhere we look, there's a blank where she should be. struggling with their loss. nadia and michael's daughter was on a boeing plane that crashed in ethiopian. sam is right here.

she was one of 157 people on board. how did those first couple of hours involved? —— evolve for you both? i learned standing right over there in the laundry room. it was 3am and ijust started physically shaking. like, i couldn't stop my body from shaking, and then ijust thought, "i can't tell other people in the house." it was the second identical boeing jet crash in five months. initial reports say they happened for the same reason, a faulty flight control system. the 737 max has been grounded ever since. critics say the development and launch of the jets was rushed, and that boeing cut corners at the expense of safety. definitely my daughter died for the profit of boeing, and i don't want anyone else to die for that reason. i want these planes to be safe and invest in the company and the hardware and

the infrastructure to make our aviation system safe. nadia and michael want to know why their daughter died, and their fight has taken them to the top of the american government. they're now representing families from across north america. when et302 crashed, there were passengers from more than 30 countries on board. the highest proportion of those were from kenya, because the flight was bound for nairobi, but the second highest amount were from here in canada, and families from toronto are starting to want answers as to why their loved ones were killed. well, i lost my wife, carol, my three children, ryan, kelly and ruby, and i also lost my mum. i feel so lonely. i look at people. i see them with their children playing outside, and i know i cannot have my children. paul njoroge lost his entire family.

he believes they would still be alive if boeing had grounded the planes earlier. the crash of ethiopian airlines flight 302 was preventable. these individuals knew they would not be held criminally liable, they would not face years in prison, but if they knew that they would face years in prison, then they would have grounded those planes in november. we asked boeing for an interview, and they declined. in a statement, they said: but for the families, life is changed forever. their resolve now, finding the truth. simon browning, bbc news, in toronto. you're watching newsday on the bbc.

live from singapore and london. still to come on the programme: is the president playing politics orjust a patriot? we'll have the latest on donald trump's controversial take on the fourth ofjuly. also on the programme: it's the women's world cup final this weeked, wrapping a hugely succesful tournament. so should female players be paid and treated the same as the men? china marked its first day of rule in hong kong with a series of spectacular celebrations. a huge firework display was held in the former colony. the chinese president, jiang zemin, said unification was the start of a new era for hong kong. the world's first clone has been produced of an adult mammal. scientists in scotland have produced a sheep called dolly that was cloned in a laboratory using a cell of another sheep. for the first time in 20 years,

russian and american spacecraft have docked in orbit at the start of a new era of cooperation in space. challenger powered past the bishop rock lighthouse at almost 50 knots, shattering a record that had stood for 34 years. and there was no hiding the sheer elation of richard branson and his crew. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. and i'm lewis vaughan jones in london. our top stories: a special investigation by the bbc reveals how china is systematically separating muslim uighur children from theirfamilies. speaking exlusively to the bbc,

families of victims of the boeing plane crash in ethiopia tell us those responsible must be held to account. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. singapore's straits times newspaper reports on the row over hong kong and says it's threatening diplomatic ties between china and britain. the uk foreign office summoned the chinese ambassador after he called a rare news conference on wednesday and attacked the british foreign secretary for backing violent protests in hong kong. it's accusing the uk government of meddling in its internal affairs. in the south china morning post, the paper says huawei will be a key focus when us negotiators visit beijing next week to revive stalled trade talks. leaders from both countries agreed to a tentative truce at last week's

g20 summit injapan. and finally, the financial times reports on british royal marines seizing a tanker suspected of smuggling iranian oil to syria and violating eu sanctions. following the raid off gibraltar, iran summoned the british ambassador in tehran and called the seizure "illegal". the ambassador said it was about enforcing sanctions on syria, and not iran. those are the papers. an elaborate ceremony has marked us independence day in washington, with donald trump presiding over an event dubbed salute to america. in a change to the usual fourth ofjuly celebrations, military vehicles were on display and president trump's speech was interspersed with flypasts of fighter jets. at the outset of his address, president trump lauded the country's armed forces.

it very special salute to america, to celebrate our history, our people, and the heroes who proudly defend ourflag. the brave men and women of the united states military. (applause) we can talk now to our correspondent chris buckler in washington. ...the the celebrations are over, the grandstands are starting to get empty. well, to some extent, the celebrations continue. the element that donald trump were at the centre of has now come to a conclusion. the white house had promised the focus would be on patriotism, not politics. if you listen to the speech, that was true. it was a much more measured speeds than the addresses we are used to —— speech. he referenced the civil rights

movement in the us, he referenced martin luther king, he also spoke here about the i have a dream speech, here at the lincoln memorial. he did his best to reflect the best elements of america and praising each branch of the us military. there were flyovers and ta nks military. there were flyovers and tanks that sat alongside him at the lincoln memorial. but be on that, there was a genuine attempt, i suppose, to reach out and say as one country people should be able to celebrate on the fourth ofjuly. at the same time, we talk to some of the same time, we talk to some of the crowd who gathered here. it's clear most of them were donald trump supporters and perhaps others were on the other end of the national mall where that concert is taking place in the shadow of the capitol building. what has been the general reaction to this for thejuly celebration among americans, chris? yeah, it is worth remembering that

in washington, every single year, there are celebrations in the national mall. what was different this year was that the president had himself at the centre of it. i suspect that will continue to cause controversy, not least because we don't know how much this cost, we do know that half $1 million was diverted from national park service funds in order to pay for some of it, i think it probably cost a lot more than that. but president sharp is playing down those issues. the other thing is while this wasn't about campaigning for president from, he has got himself a made—for—tv moment in the year before the 2020 elections, and actually, it's worth noticing that one of the members of the military actually saying at the end of the whole event, and he sang a song that was used to bring president trump on

stage when he does his campaign rallies. it might not be all about campaigning, but it's never too far from donald trump's mine. chris buckler joining from donald trump's mine. chris bucklerjoining us from the fourth ofjuly celebrations in washington, dc. this weekend the us and the netherlands take to the football field for the women's world cup final. it's set to be a fierce match but there's another battle being fought on the sidelines. with audience figures increasing and sponsors clamouring to get involved, female football players are demanding to be paid — and treated — the same as their male counterparts. fifa estimates that over 30 million women play football worldwide and the number of amateur players has increased by more than 15% over the past decade. but there are big financial discrepencies between the men's and women's games. the winners on sunday will recieve $4 million in prize money. that's half of what the men's teams got last summer, if they exited at the last 16 stage.

and the highest—paid female player, norway's ada hegerberg, earns 325 times less than barcelona superstar lionel messi, according to france football magazine. but could this spectacular world cup be a turning point for women's football? earlier i spoke to louise evans from women sport australia and asked her if this was a turning point in women's football. i think it's going to be a big turning point. you just need to look at the ratings to see that the tournament has really inspired a lot of people around the world to tune in. and there's reasons for that. the tournament, the world cup, is being shown in a lot of countries on free—to—air platforms. it's being shown, televised in or re—televised in prime—time, and of course the women's game has grown a lot in professionalism. so you get to see a really fantastic world—class game and women's sport,

as you rightly pointed out, is on the rise. and then another factor of course is patriotism. when your team's playing, of course you want to tune in. and all of those factors have played in to really push the world cup up into the ratings and it's experiencing some of the best ratings, not only for sporting tournaments, but for broadcasters across their suite of programmes. louise, part of the problem for women's football is that the men's game is so huge. the sums of money involved are so vast, the business, the sponsorship, the audiences, the women's game by comparison will never get, or will it ever get to that scale? and therefore, the players being paid the same as the men? it certainly — it is certainly getting there, as you point out, the disparity is huge. there is a lot of movement on at the moment. the women in the us are in the final, they are in court

at the moment taking their sporting federation to court over pay parity and they're notjust arguing for money, they are arguing for all those other things that male athletes take for granted. sports medicine support, access to training facilities, access to good equipment, support in the administration and the promotion of the games. all of those markers, so notjust pay, but all those other markers and things they are arguing for. and the world's best player, ada hegerberg from norway, who you mentioned before, she isn't even at the world cup. she hasn't played for her country, her federation since 2017. the reason for that is pay. and, what she calls respect. so there's a lot of movement around a lot of protest and there is court action. there is also political action because the world cup is on,

people are engaged, people are watching, the politicians coming in and saying this isn't good enough, why are the women being paid so less? why are they being treated so poorly? and the people who are watching, too, mums and dads, you know, if they have a fantastic little football player in theirfamily, they want career pathways for her, they want a living wage for her. so they're also on—board. so there's a push from the grassroots right up to politicians who are pushing for a change. who do you think will win the world cup? i think it will be 1-1 after overtime, and then i don't know who will win after penalty kicks. you have been watching newsday. and i'm rico hizon in singapore. stay with us. coming up: india's new budget. we will be following the country's

first female finance minister in almost half a century as she delivers her debut budget. and before we go, we'd like to leave you with these pictures. this is a hindu chariot festival in 0disha in india. thousands of people on the streets. hello there. if you were looking for the warmest, sunniest weather on thursday, you had to turn your eyes southwards. the further south you went, the bluer the skies remained. a bit of wispy, high cloud overhead in london, but temperatures in the london area got very close to 27 degrees. compare and contrast that with the scene for this weather watcher in ullapool, in north—west scotland. grey, murky, damp, temperatures at 13 degrees. and similar rules apply through the day ahead. the best of the sunshine to be found across central and southern parts of the uk. further north, more cloud, some patchy rain, some mist and murk, especially for hills and coasts in the west. and then some heavy rain returning to northern and western scotland

later in the day, where it will also be quite breezy. so let's take a closer look. lots of sunshine for the channel islands, southern england, wales, the midlands, east anglia, temperatures 23 in plymouth, 2a degrees for cardiff, 27 once again across the london area. but some extra cloud will push in across north wales in north—west england, north—east england, to the east of the pennines should hold onto at least a little bit of brightness through the day. northern ireland turning pretty grey, rain pepping up again across western scotland through the afternoon. but, with some shelter for the mountains in eastern scotland, aberdeen down to edinburgh, we should hold onto a little bit of brightness and temperatures around 18 degrees. now that cloud and rain which has been plaguing northern areas will start to move its way southwards during friday night. behind it, the skies will start to clear across scotland and ahead of that band of cloud and patchy rain we'll keep some clear skies in the south as well. temperatures as we start saturday between 10—15 degrees. that band of cloud and patchy rain will start off the weekend across northern england and northern ireland,

associated with this, a cold front. you can tell it's a cold front by the blue triangles here. and behind that cold front, well, the air turns cooler and fresher. but the front is likely to drag its heels, though, there will be a zone of cloudy here and potentially damp weather. i'm not expecting huge amounts of rain, that will sink across parts of east anglia, the midlands, wales. to the south—east coast of england, we are likely to hold onto some sunshine and warm all day long. temperatures could get to around 2a degrees. but to the north of the band of cloud and patchy rain, it will be cold and fresher although, it will be largely dry with some sunny spells. and all of us get into that fresher regime on sunday. the front will have cleared away by this stage, there will be some fairly large areas of cloud floating around, some spells of sunshine, just a small chance of one or two showers. and those temperatures ranging from 13 degrees in aberdeen to a high of 22 in cardiff.

i'm lewis vaughan jones with bbc news. our top story: a bbc special investigation has revealed how muslim children in china are being systematically separated from their families. official documents show that large numbers of boarding schools have been built to house children as young as two. critics of china's government say it's a deliberate policy targetting the minority uighur population. families of victims of the boeing crash in ethiopia in march tell the bbc that criminal charges should be brought against those found to be responsible. and this video is trending on bbc.com. events to mark us independence day are taking place in washington, where president trump is hosting an event dubbed ‘salute to america'. that's all. stay with bbc world news. there's much more on all our stories on our website, that's bbc.co.uk.

find me on twitter, i'm @lvaughanjones.