isn't (my. isn't looking too great. stage, it isn't looking too great. you can see how huge this low pressure is in behind we have more low pressure systems and unions to bring further rainfall. this is saturday, for example. goodbye. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: hong kong airport authorities say operations have resumed after a huge protest stopped all passenger flights. a stark warning from china — it calls the protests a sign of terrorism and vows to respond with an iron fist. i'm ben bland in london. also in the programme: the us attorney general says there were serious irregularities around the apparent suicide of the accused sex traffickerjeffrey epstein. and scientists mapping the genome of the world's largest lizard reveal the secrets of the komodo dragon.

announcer: live from out studios in singapore and london. this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's midnight in london and 7am in the morning here in singapore, and also in hong kong, where the airport authorities say operations have now resumed after monday's shutdown. there's been a weekend of skirmishes between police and demonstrators, angry about what they believe is china's erosion of their freedoms. beijing has raised the stakes, claiming the weeks long unrest, has begun to show what it calls the sprouts of terrorism. jonathan head reports. as the last flights came in, the passengers were greeted with a chorus of appeals from young people waving posters,

pleading for support. they feared the police were about to storm the airport. its sudden closure left travellers bewildered and stuck. catherine morgan and her daughter helena were due to fly back to britain, but their flight was cancelled. we flew in from taipei this morning, and it was fine until we got to arrivals and there was a mass protest and everything closed down. the crowds had built up during the day as more people poured into the terminal to protest at police brutality over the weekend. this incident in particular, where demonstrators were cornered, beaten and shot at with pepper guns at the top of an underground escalator, has shocked hong kong. at a press conference, local journalists held up pictures of the injured, demanding better answers from the city's police chiefs.

this is now a beleaguered force, detested by many people in hong kong over its handling of the unrest. so, would china intervene to reinforce them? that would be a dramatic and dangerous step. the language from beijing, though, has hardened, describing the protests as "terrorism". and the airport closure will doubtless be depicted by china as yet more unacceptable damage to hong kong's economy. rumours have been swirling that the police are actually going to move in and try to clear the protesters who are still here. it's hard at the moment to understand how they are going to do that. there are still a lot of stranded passengers sleeping at the airport, but certainly these activists believe that operation is possible and they're deciding what to do about it and whether they resist. suddenly, they were gone. a violent confrontation had been

avoided, the airport could prepare to reopen. but the protesters say they will be back. hong kong's season of strife has not yet run its course. jonathan head, bbc news, hong kong airport. we'll stay with that story in a few minutes and bring you more on it. do stay with us for that. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. the us attorney general william barr has said there were serious irregularities at the prison wherejeffrey epstein was found dead on saturday. the billionaire financier was being held ahead of his trial on sex—trafficking and conspiracy charges. the attorney general reassured epstein's victims that justice would be done. we're now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning and demand a

thorough investigation. the fbi and the office of in are doing just that. we will get to the bottom of what happened, and there will be accountability. but let me assure you that this case will continue on against anyone who was complicit with epstein. any co—conspirators should not rest easy. the victims deserve justice, and they will get it. our north america correspondent peter bowes has more details. william barr is clearly livid at what happened and directing his anger at the prison service, and bearin anger at the prison service, and bear in mind, the prison service is pa rt part of the justice department that mr barr is in charge of. he is determined... we're hearing reports that while mr epstein may not have been on suicide watch anymore, he should have at least been seen by a

prison of every 30 minutes also, and, according to some reports, he wasn't actually seen for several hours. there are also claims that perhaps, in part, the blame for this lies in the hands of the trump administration. cutbacks in terms of the prison service, which is said to be stretched in terms of staffing. soa be stretched in terms of staffing. so a tremendous amount to investigate and clearly the attorney general determined to get to the bottom of what happened. and peter, given how many high—profile celebrities and politicians jeffrey epstein socialised with, how much could this case, do you think, rock the establishment? this case had the potential to rock the establishment before mr epstein died. clearly that remains. the investigation into those sex trafficking allegations continues. potential co—conspirators, and we've heard from mr barr, he's essentially

put them on notice that they should not rest easy, and perhaps you could argue that because of what's happened over the past couple of days, the fact he has died while in prison, may well intensify those investigations and it's all the more important because, as we've heard from many people, this is crucial for those victims, people who say they suffered at the hands of jeffrey epsteen. where hearing talk now that those people may well be carrying out their own lawsuits, ringing civil lawsuits against the estate of geoffrey epstein. really there's a long way to go and many investigations, the fbi and justice department, and i think it could be several months before we see significant answers. peter bowes there. also making news today: the uk will be first in line for a trade deal with the us, according to the us national security adviserjohn bolton. he's been in london meeting borisjohnson on the same day that the prime minister and president trump discussed brexit, trade and economic issues over the phone.

the united states will penalise legal immigrants who rely on welfare programmes such as food stamps, medical care and housing vouchers. the move is part of a drive to curb immigration. the new policy is due to come into effect in 60 days‘ time and aims to deny permanent residency to low—paid immigrants. heavy rains and floods are continuing to cause havoc across large parts of south asia. in india alone, nearly 200 people have died, while an estimated one million people have been rescued from floodwaters. the southern state of kerala has been the worst hit. relief efforts are being hampered by ongoing thunderstorms. there have also been major floods in eastern china, where a powerful typhoon has killed at least 44 people. typhoon lekima triggered landslides and caused dams to collapse. these pictures are from shandong province. transport has been severely disrupted with trains and flights cancelled across the region.

scientists say that two experimental drugs have been shown to be highly effective in treating the deadly disease ebola. trials are being co—ordinated by the world health organization in the democratic republic of congo, where ebola has killed at least 1,800 people in what has been the worst outbreak in the country's history. millions of muslims have been taking part in the final rites of hajj in saudi arabia. it's one of the largest religious gatherings in the world and sees mulims travel to mecca to follow in the footsteps of the prophet muhammed in a 5—day pilgrimage. let's go back to our top story, the airport authorities in hong kong, as we've mentioned, have now resumed operations after anti—government protests that earlier brought it to a standstill. in response, the chinese authorities have begun to link the protest movement with what they're

calling terrorism. i'm joined now from washington by zhaoyin feng of the bbc‘s chinese service. thank you so much forjoining us, zhaoyin. you had the protest with their demands, including the resignation of carrie lam, but on the other hand beijing's saying we're now seeing sprouts of terrorism and they'll deal with this with an iron fest. is there any middle ground between the two sides? well, it's really high to tell. so far neither sized show any signs of backing down. we're now ten weeks into the protest and as you can tell, the protesters are not backing down and at the same time china has ramped up its condemnation of the protests. at first the state owned media in china is no protests on the coverage and later they called the protesters mobs, criminals and

separators and now this new phrasing of it, they are mobs with signs of terrorism right now. it's a very strong signal sent by beijing that it's a warning that protesters should back down at this moment. with the chinese state media and social media saying about these protests ? social media saying about these protests? some of the state media have posed photos of chinese armed police assembling in shanshan, a city bordering hong kong and mainland china. it's a very clear signal that these armed police may be sent to hong kong to clear out the crackdown, to clear the protesters and the crackdown. it's clear at the moment that if you look at the basic law they have legal grounds to do that. beijing can declare a state of emergency and in that case p0 eight or armed police can march into hong kong. 0f

that case p0 eight or armed police can march into hong kong. of course that would be unthinkable at this moment and very bad for china. it would be a clear sign to the rest of the world that 22 years after the handover, china can still not win the hearts and minds of hong kong people. of course, zhaoyin, there's a lwa ys people. of course, zhaoyin, there's always the fear we could see the making of tea and a man 2.0 with troops and tanks rolling in, but it's important to note hong kong and macau foreign affairs office will be holding a press conference today. what are they likely to say? we're likely to see the condemnation of the escalation of the protesters. at the escalation of the protesters. at the same time, i'm not sure there's any middle ground at the moment if beijing is going even tougher. thanks so much joining beijing is going even tougher. thanks so muchjoining us beijing is going even tougher. thanks so much joining us from

washington, dc, zhaoyin feng from oui’ washington, dc, zhaoyin feng from our chinese bureau. indian administered kashmir remains under lockdown during the islamic fistival of eid. all the big mosques were closed amid concerns that a large number of people gathering could spark unrest. the region has been tense ever since the indian government revoked its special status last week. the indian government says law and order has been maintained across indian—administered kashmir. from srinagar, the bbc‘s india correspondent yogita limaye reports. after they said their eid prayers, hundreds took to the streets in one part of the city. they were protesting against the indian government's decision to remove kashmir‘s special status. two days earlier, a rally in the same area had turned violent. today, it remained peaceful. the rest of the city wore an uneasy calm. security forces were out in full strength. there were checkpoints on virtually every road. big mosques were closed.

people were allowed to pray in smaller numbers but not everywhere. this elderly man argued with a policeman to let him through. behind a makeshift fence, a crowd gathered just across the road from the mosque they go to. "they are not allowing us to go to the mosque and offer prayers," this man said. "we don't know what the problem is." "even though we've come in peace, we are not being allowed to go ahead," another one told me. few ventured out to meet relatives and friends. this lady was one of them. she took a chunk of meat to her brother's home, an eid tradition. translation: we don't feel like today is eid. we're in sorrow, we're in mourning. what have these people done to us? on a festive day like eid, this street would have been bustling, with people coming out here to buy sweets, clothes, jewelry.

today, the shutters are down, the markets are empty. for more than a week now, this region has been in a lockdown, and there are no clear answers about how long it could go on for. the restrictions that have been imposed at certain sensitive places were completely maintained and we, depending on the local situation, have given some relaxation. 0utside this region, india's people overwhelmingly support the government's actions. here, the anger is simmering, and a government that is perhaps worried that the situation could spiral out of control is taking no chances. yogita limaye, bbc news, srinagar. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: our investigation reveals the extent to which sri lanka's muslims face hatred and boycotts in the aftermath of the easter attack by islamic extremists that left more than 250 people dead. also on the programme: scientists map the genome of the komodo dragon, the world's largest lizard.

the big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a hugejob of crowd control. idi amin, uganda's brutalformer dictator, has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. 2 billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later when the sun set over the bay of bengal.

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. thank you for staying with us. i'm ben bland in london. our top stories: authorities at hong kong's airport have resumed operations after a huge protest — china calls the demonstrations a sign of terrorism. and the us attorney general says there were "serious irregularities" around accused sex trafficker jeffrey epstein's apparent suicide and promises investigations will continue. let's take a look at some newspapers from around the world. the front page of the south china morning post is dominated by the protest that shut down hong kong's international airport on monday.

it says beijing has raised the stakes by warning that the escalating violence is displaying "signs of terrorism". lets turn now to french publicaiton le figaro, which says the kremlin is struggling to counter anti—putin protests. around 50,000 people marched in moscow on saturday demanding free local elections in september and denouncing what they call the repression of the recent demonstrations. and finally, the singapore straits times reports on comments by deputy prime minister heng swee keat that singapore's racial and religious diversity can be a source of strength. he said, at a time when polarisation is on the rise, singapore can share its lessons with others, even though maintaining harmony in a multiracial, multi—religious society is always a work in progress. those are the papers. it has been almost four months since at least 250 people

were killed in sri lanka on easter sunday, when islamists attacked five—star hotels and churches. while the security situation has improved, muslim communities are still trying to overcome divisions. community leaders say they're facing hate speech and informal boycotts of muslim—owned shops. the bbc‘s anbarasan ethirajan reports from colombo. a routine day for mohammed who owns a hardware shop in western sri lanka. but his regular customers are missing. he says the majority single is lists are not buying from them own businesses and parts of sri la nka own businesses and parts of sri lanka since april. the informal boycott has devastated muslim traders like mohammed. translation: since the easter sunday bombings, almost 90% of my single is customers have stopped buying from a shop. my business has gone down significantly and i have lost hundreds of thousands of rupees. though some customers have started

coming back, it is not enough. if this trend continues, then i am in big trouble. the bombings carried out by militants linked to local islamist groups ripped families apart. in the wake of the attacks, the entire was the community seems to be facing retaliation. business is the backbone of the muslim community here in sri lanka. but argued here, if the majority single is buddhist people are not going to buy items from shops like this one, thatis buy items from shops like this one, that is going to have a negative impact. they argue there is a political motive behind this informal boycott. there were also attacks on muslim own properties in recent months. some hard—line buddhist months are blamed for triggering anti— muslim sentiments. translation: no organisation has asked people not to buy from was them shops. people are doing it on their own. we have nothing to do with it. muslim community will have to discuss it among themselves and

find answers. we don't say that all the muslims are involved in violence, but muslim businessmen should find out those who are supporting hardline islam and expose them. but, muslim leaders disagree with the monk. she must stop pontificating to us. he must turn the searchlight in words. and we're quite prepared to engage in a serious introspection when it comes to where things went wrong in our community and we are doing it substantially. but then when they start imposing solutions on a bilyk at community, putting the blame entirely on the community for its failures, is not good enough. sri lankan presidential elections are due later this year, and the anti— muslim that check serves the political process —— rhetoric, it can polarise the electorate. muslims here pray and hope they will not become a pawn in the bigger political game. anbarasan ethirajan,

bbc news, colombo. scientists have mapped the genome of the komodo dragon, the world's largest lizard. it's revealed the secrets behind the impressive speed and endurance these cold—blooded predators can achieve by ramping up their metabolism to levels like those of mammals. abigail lind is a biologist from the gladstone institutes in san francisco who worked on the project. komodo dragon czar very strong stop they can run very fast and they have very high endurance as you indicated —— komodo dragon czar. there's a number of things that they can do to get this high metabolism. and so we looked at the komodo dragon gino, we found that they actually have a number of evolutionary adaptations that help them use oxygen to become more efficient. and what is amazing about these lizards, these komodo dragon, they can bring down an animal the size of a water buffalo

with the venom in their bite, but when they fight each other, how do they managed to survive that if one bites the other? right. there is an anticoagulant in their saliva and when we looked at the komodo dragon gino mann compared it to the genome of other lizards, we found there is a lot of different protein changes in the proteins that cause blood clots to form. so what we think is happening is all these changes in proteins that form blood clots are working together to form a blood clot even in the presence of this anticoagulant oh komodo dragon can still heal. it's the research and sequencing has revealed things in itself. but i wonder if there is any application for this carrying over into science that could help humans potentially one day? so, the lizard metabolism is very different from human's, as you might have guessed.

but you see there are changes in the metabolism of this komodo dragon as they go from cold to hot, and there is value in understanding how those changes come about. just briefly, what made you decide to sequence the komodo dragon of all possible reptiles you could have picked? right. komodo dragon czar really interesting. they are the biggest lizards that exist, they have high metabolism is, they run fast, they are the lizard up the. so we wanted to understand what the basis of their unique traits were and that's why we chose the komodo dragon. abigail lind speaking to me there from san francisco a little earlier. ijust bring you a quick update on oui’ ijust bring you a quick update on our top stories. we're just reporting the airport authorities in hong kong say operations have resumed but many flights have been rescheduled to tuesday. if you are flying from or through hong kong, do

check your flight status if you can. the international airport had been brought to a standstill earlier after being occupied by protesters. more on that as well online. you have been watching newsday. i'm ben bland in london. and i'm rico hizon in singapore. stay with us. ‘back to the future' — could we finally see flying cars on the market? we take a look at the latest and most promising developments. i'm not sure if you were born then, ben. you would make a good doctor brown. and before we go, we'd like to leave you with these pictures. kangaroos aren't known to live in the snow, but as wild weather lashes parts of eastern australia, they haven't been given much of a choice. this stunning video shows a large mob of kangaroos bounding through paddocks in curraweela which is around 300 kilometres inland of sydney.

i'm not sure if you saw any of those kangaroos on your holiday, rico? nope! see you soon. hello. i'm a cool weather with showers is here to stay through the week. if anything it's going to turn even more unsettled as we see friday and the weekend. but that is still a long way. in the short term, actually, there is a lot of dry weather out there with clear weather across the uk. this is what it looks like do the early hours. so as you can see we have some showers across the south, the lake district, lancashire, north—western scotland, and temperatures nine degrees first thing in the morning at edinburgh, 12 degrees in devon and cornwall. this is what it looks like first

thing on tuesday, don't. so we wake up thing on tuesday, don't. so we wake up to thing on tuesday, don't. so we wake uptoa thing on tuesday, don't. so we wake up to a lot of sunshine, a scattering of showers in the west of scotland, some across northern england, one or two affecting the south—west of england as well. now the daytime will bring sunny spells, temperatures of around 2! degrees for the london area, 17 in belfast and newcastle. notice there is a bit of cloud and rain there in the south—western that should reach cornwall and devon a little bit later on in the day. but for most of us later on in the day. but for most of us the end of the day on tuesday is looking absolutely fine and lovely at sunset out there. here is mid week on low pressure dominating the weather across the atlantic, a succession of weather fronts and low pressure is heading our way to the sale stop there all heading our way. this is what it looks like on wednesday, so what one weather front brings rain to wales in many parts of england, another ones in northern ireland and western scotland. in between there, perhaps the north—east of england and the borders getting away with it, but

probably later in the day that ren will arrive —— that rain will arrive. 0n will arrive —— that rain will arrive. on thursday, the weather does improve a little bit. you will notice our weather icons are showing dry here, partly cloudy skies. 0n friday, the weather goes downhill again. another low pressure comes off the atlantic and this one is a big area of low pressure. that will be barrelling through notjust during the course of friday but the weekend as well. so for many of us an increase in window and outbreaks across western areas on friday. temperatures still around 18— 20 degrees, this is relatively humid aircoming in and degrees, this is relatively humid air coming in and in the south. that low pressure is still with us to the weekend, you can see how big it is judging from the central north atla ntic judging from the central north atlantic in fact all the way to scandinavia and further weather fronts will swing around it and bring us some wet weather. bobo. —— bye— bye.

i'm ben bland with bbc news. our top story: authorities at hong kong's

international airport have resumed operations after a huge protest. some demonstrators remained at the airport overnight after thousands occupied it on monday. there's been a stark warning from china which called the protests a sign of terrorism and vowed to respond with an iron fist. the us attorney general says there were serious irregularities around accused sex trafficker jeffrey epstein's apparent suicide. he says he wants to reassure epstein's victims that justice will be done. and this story is trending on bbc.com. this is austrian swimmerjosef koeberl, who over the weekend broke the world record for the longest duration making full body contact with ice. josef stood in a box filled with ice cubes wearing nothing but swimming trunks for more than two hours. that's all. stay with bbc news.