hello, welcome to newsday on the bbc. i'm ben bland in london. the headlines: warm words, but a warning too — angela merkel tells borisjohnson he's got 30 days to avoid a no—deal brexit. you've set a very blistering timetable there of 30 days, if i understood you correctly. i'm more than happy with that. "appalling and inhumane" — critics condemn white house plans which could see migrant children detained indefinitely. and i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. also in the programme: president trump calls denmark's prime minister a "nasty woman" and cancels his trip after she says greenland

is not for sale. more allegations about prince andrew's links with the convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein — buckingham palace says any suggestion of impropriety with minors is categorically untrue. live from our studios in london and singapore, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. it's 1:00am here in london, 8:00am, in singapore and 2:00am in the morning in berlin where borisjohnson began his first foreign trip as prime minister. on thursday, he goes to paris. mrjohnson wants european leaders to change the deal agreed with his predecessor, theresa may. the eu response has been firm until now: not a chance. chancellor angela merkel

greeted him with smiles, but warned him he only has 30 days to come up with an alternative. 0ur political correspondent ben wright is in berlin. another prime minister arrives in berlin to demand more concessions on brexit. prime minister, are you hopeful of a deal? it's a familiar tune, but this time the deadlock is stark, and it's boris johnson receiving the red carpet, here to tell the german chancellor that the deal hammered out between theresa may and the eu must change. 0therwise, mrjohnson insists, the uk is leaving with no deal at the end of october and claims there's nothing mps can do to stop it. berlin would not have been surprised to hear borisjohnson‘s condition for a deal, that the irish backstop, intended to prevent a hard border on the island of ireland after brexit, be scrubbed altogether from the withdrawal agreement. but eu leaders say the deal is closed. so, what would one of europe's most powerful leaders have to say to the man who led the uk's

campaign to leave? before dinner, they spoke at the chancellery. we cannot accept the current withdrawal agreement, arrangements that either divide the uk or lock us into the regulatory and trading arrangements of the eu, the legal order of the eu, without the uk having any say on those matters. so we do need that backstop removed. my so we do need that backstop removed. my first question to the prime minister, please. but, mrjohnson, the eu says it will not renegotiate the withdrawal agreement under any circumstances, so are you prepared to compromise, or is this trip simply posturing before you blame the eu for a no—deal brexit? yes, of course, i think there is ample scope to do a deal.

and i've explained pretty clearly, i think, what needs to happen. we need to re m ove think, what needs to happen. we need to remove those elements of the withdrawal agreement that simply don't work for the uk. i have spoken of the things that are sensible, the protection of the rights of eu nationals. and chancellor merkel, the withdrawal agreement was defeated in parliament three times in britain. it has been buried by borisjohnson. why won't you reopen it in the few weeks that are left, or do you see the brexit crisis now as the uk's problem to solve? translation: the backstop has always been a fallback position. if one is able to solve this conundrum, if one finds this solution, we say — we said we will probably find it in the next two years to come, but we can also maybe find it in the next 30 days to come. thank you very much. we need to go to work now. borisjohnson boris johnson and angela borisjohnson and angela merkel are now discussing the differences face—to—face over dinner. the first

of many to come. ben wright, bbc news, berlin. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. president trump has increased his attacks on denmark, after its prime minister called the us president's interest in buying greenland "absurd". denmark looks after greenland's defence and foreign affairs. it was one of several issues president trump has commented on, as nick bryant reports. its resources rich and strategically well—placed, and america's property tycoon president has long seen greenland as a prized piece of geopolitical real estate. but even though he jokingly promised in a tweet this week not to build a trump tower on this barren landscape, the danish prime minister described his interest in buying its territory as "absurd." so no longer did the president see the funny side, and announced via twitter that he'd cancelled next month's visit to copenhagen. i thought it was not a nice statement the way she blew me off, because she's blowing

off the united states. and we treat countries with respect, she shouldn't treat the united states that way saying what an absurd — she said absurd! that's not the right word to use. absurd. the invitation to visit denmark had come from the royal household, which said it had been "completely blindsided" by the president's late—night announcement. the country's new centre—left prime minister sounded dumbfounded. it is with regret and surprise that i received the news that the president trump has cancelled his state visit to denmark on the second and third of september. i had been looking forward to the visit, our preparations were well under way. and this was the reaction of her mild—mannered compatriots. i heard it was because he couldn't buy greenland, so if he's that stupid, i think it's good that he's not coming. greenland is for the greenland people. and nobody else. it all has the feel of a summer silly season story, but the ongoing trade war with china is more serious.

and today prompted this extraordinary presidential claim. so somebody — excuse me — somebody had to do it. i am the chosen one! somebody had to do it. so i'm taking on china, i'm taking on china on trade, and you know what? we're winning, because we're the piggy bank. but even the president of the united states doesn't divine powers. and right now he's finding it hard to bend the world to his will. he can summon his green helicopters at a moment's notice, but is finding it much harder to get his hands on greenland. nick brown, bbc news, washington. also making news today: thousands of people have protested at a subway station in hong kong. they were unhappy that no—one has yet been prosecuted for an attack by a mob on the same subway station last month. masked protesters clashed

with police in the demonstration at yuen long station. former white house press secretary sean spicer has been cast in the next series of dancing with the stars. the show‘s host, tom bergeron opposed spicer‘s casting, saying he'd rather the programme provided relief from politics. during six months working for president trump mr spicer made many false claims including claiming that mr trump's inauguration audience was the "biggest—ever". now, look at this thai firefighter grabbing a python, armed just with his bare hands and a headlamp. he takes the 5—metre long snake from a bangkok home, preventing any danger to the family inside. the firefighter has caught about 10,000 snakes in the last 16 years. last year alone, the city had 37,000 reports of snakes being found in houses.

the trump administration has announced it wants to allow us officials to detain migrant families indefinitely while judges consider whether they can remain in the country. the department of homeland security said it would scrap a longstanding legal ruling that only allows migrant children to be detained for less than 20 days. by eliminating the incentive to make the journey to the united states as a family, the new rule will reduce the unprecedented volume of family units that is straining the already—limited resources of our department components, and put children throughout the region at risk. the scale of this crisis has required us to ask a tremendous amount of our border patrol agents and cbp officers as they have stepped up. them to rededicate resources and time to stopping criminals at the border,

the job they signed up to do. and fourth, the new rule will protect children by reducing incentives for adults, including human smugglers, to exploit minors in the dangerous journey to our border. using them to beat the system and be released into the united states. well our north america correspondent david willis has been following the story — he gave this update. immigration reform is a signature issue for the trump administration. but attempts to quell the numbers amassing at south—western border have proved largely futile and indeed figures there suggest that the highest number of people convening on the border for ten years. now president trump has tried various measures to tackle that problem. and this latest one amounts to basically abolishing the time limit, the limit for children to be detained at the border. currently, that time limit, ben, is 20 days.

under the changes that are proposed, children and their families, by default, could be held indefinitely, basically, until their cases are dealt with and they are either granted asylum or deported from the country. now, the acting head of homeland security, kevin mcaleenan has said this will improve the integrity of the us immigration system, as he puts it. but critics have condemned the move and nancy pelosi, the speaker of the house, she says that amounts to codified child abuse. the american civil liberties union, for their part have said that this move, were it to become law, would lead to more children being detained for longer, ben. indonesia has sent hundreds of police to the province of west papua following violent protests there. authorities are also looking for more than 250 prisoners

who escaped from a jail during the unrest on monday. there's been a simmering separatist movement in papua for decades, but these latest protests were triggered by claims of racism toward papuan students in the city of surabaya. well i spoke with callistasia wijaya of the bbc‘s indonesian service injakarta, she gave me the latest. so the authorities, police and the military have deployed more and more officers in papua and west papua to ensure public safety. until yesterday in indonesia more and more protests have happened in papua and west papua. some of the protests have turned violent with the burning of public facilities and some parts of the airport have been damaged by the angry mob. now, tell us more about the incident that sparked this latest unrest.

how has this fed into broader anger, concern about the indonesian authorities and their treatment of people in the region? yeah, so the people, some papuans said it is to fight racism and discrimination that they have endured every day throughout these years. and they also mention about the ongoing conflict between the indonesian military and papuan offices that have caused a lot of death of the civilians.

these factors make people leave —— live in papua, angry and they move now, they move now together to do the protest to force their aspirations to the government and demand the government to give a firm punishment to any people who might involved in the racism abuse in surabaya. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: a muslim's story in myanmar — from difficulties in getting jobs, to online abuse — how some say they face mounting discrimination in a mainly buddhist nation. also on the programme: the disappearing titanic — why the first team in 15 years to dive down to the world's most famous shipwreck say it's deteriorating fast. washington, the world's most political city, is today assessing the political health of the world's most powerful man. indeed i did have a relationship with ms lewinsky that was not appropriate. in fact, it was wrong.

in south africa, 97 people have been killed today, in one of the worst days of violence between rival black groups. over the past ten days, 500 have died. chanting: czechoslovakia must be free! czechoslovakia must be free! chanting: czechoslovakia must be free! russia is observing a national day of mourning for the 118 submariners who died on board the kursk. we all with them now, within our hearts. the pope has celebrated mass before a congregation of more than 2.5 million people in his hometown of krakow. "stay with us, stay with us," chanted this ocean of humanity. "well, well," joked the pope, "so you want me to desert rome?" this is newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. and i'm ben bland in london. our top stories: the british and german leaders have said they both

want to reach an agreement on the terms of britain's withdrawal from the european union. but the german leader warned britain has 30 days to come up with a plan. the white house is proposing to ease the rules on the detention of migrants to allow officials to hold families indefinitely while their applications are considered. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the philippines daily star leads with a story on beijing urging manila to completely ban all online gambling, as china looks to stop its citizens accessing gambling websites abroad. china applauded the philippines‘ decision to suspend the approval of any new offshore gambling licences, but says a complete ban on online bets would help improve relations. hong kong's south china morning post leads with more on the yuen long train station protests we mentioned earlier in the program.

the post details the anger amongst protesters that one month after the attacks at the station that left 45 people injured, none of the white shirt assailants have been charged. and the front page of the straits times shows the effects of singapore's dry spell. as you can see, the botanic gardens' eco—lake, which is usually a green oasis, is becoming a dry and muddied mess as water levels recede. now, sharanjit, what stories are sparking discussions online? yes, let's, looks at what is trending right now. a new zealand lawmaker took a page from the country's prime minister when he brought his newborn son to work. and who took the role of the babysitter?

the speaker of the house trevor mallard, who cradled and fed the baby while chairing a debate. talk about multitasking! the baby is the son of mp tamati coffey who was back at work for the first time since returning from paternity leave. the death of the financier and convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein in prison in new york this month has seen attention turn to some of his high—profile connections, including prince andrew. the bbc has seen court documents in which the pilot of epstein‘s private jet has claimed the prince travelled with him, and with virginia roberts, a 17—year—old who accused epstein of trafficking her. buckingham palace has said the court documents are inconsistent and emphatically denied that the prince had any form of sexual contact or relationship with virginia roberts. here's our royal correspondentjonny dymond. one set of relationships, so many repercussions. the prince has his arm

around virginia roberts, 17 at the time. it was her court case against ghislaine maxwell, on the right, that brought today's allegations. at the heart of it, this billionaire businessman, jeffrey epstein, who took his own life in detention 11 days ago. he was convicted in 2008 for sex offences. epstein was alleged to have trafficked underage girls, both for himself and for his circle. here he is in 2010, and here is prince andrew in epstein‘s house, just two years after the businessman‘s criminal conviction. epstein was a highflyer with a private jet. in court documents seen by the bbc, the private jet‘s pilot is that several times prince andrew travelled with virginia roberts and jeffrey epstein. the pilot gives dates and locations.

curious company for the queen's second son. the palace has pushed back hard. the fact that some of the dates and locations in this are wrong does cast doubt over the claim. it's also not evidence that's been put into a court of law with cross—examination. when it was released, it came with something of a health warning from the court. but there are more papers to come, and alongside the video released

earlier this week, today's allegations are a reminder of, at best, a terrible error ofjudgement. jonny dymond, bbc news. nearly 700,000 rohingya muslims fled their homes in myanmar following a military offensive in rakhine state in 2017. but there are many other non—rohingya muslims that still live and work in the predominantly buddhist country. one has been sharing his story with our correspondent nick beake. we're in downtown yangon and this is the sule pagoda, it's one of thousands you see across myanmar, which is mainly a buddhist country. but just over the road, we've got a mosque. there's a hindu temple down that way and a church up there. this is the thing about this place, it's got a really long history of being extremely diverse. in 2016, i was accused of being a terrorist,

and it was, like, widely shared on facebook. this incident and this information was started from a group of nationalists. there was someone who looks like me in the video and they used a screenshot and they shared it along with my photo on facebook. some facebook users, they do not really understand. theyjust hate this face. i was interrogated for, like, more than 11 days straight. they printed out that facebook story from 2016. they accused it of being me. the hate... there's a kind of like bad,

evil spirit embedded in the mind of the government officials, you know? they do not like muslims. the haunting ruins of the titanic have long captured the imagination, from the first scientific exploration of the wreckage to its portrayal in the blockbuster film. divers have now returned to the site for the first time in more than a decade, and what they've found is disturbing — the once—proud ship is disappearing due to bacteria. the bbc‘s rebecca morelle has this exclusive report. at the bottom of the atlantic, nearly 4,000 metres down, the most famous wreck of all time. this is the bow of the titanic, still recognisable more than 100 years after she sank. it's the first time people have been down to see it for themselves for nearly 15 years but while some of the wreck is intact, other parts have

disappeared altogether. probably the most shocking area of the deterioration was the starboard side of the officers' quarters, where the captain's quarters are. the captain's bath tub is a favourite image among titanic enthusiasts, and that's now gone. that whole deck house on that side is collapsing. microbes are eating away at the metal, creating stalactites of rust that dangle from the ship. amazingly, though, the glass in the portholes is still in place, giving a tantalising glimpse into the titanic‘s past. it was the biggest ship of its time, setting sail from southampton in 1912 on its maiden voyage, heading to new york. but it never made it. it sank after hitting an iceberg. 1,500 people lost their lives. these incredibly ornate slippers belong to one of the titanic‘s first class passengers, edith rosenbaum, a fashion buyer who was on her way

to new york. she was one of the lucky ones. she survived, and she brought with her this musical toy pig that she played to soothe the children on the overcrowded lifeboat. every one of the precious artefacts at the national maritime museum tell a story. but exploring the titanic is also crucial. i think it's still important to go down and visit the wreck because of course the wreck itself is now the only witness we've got of the titanic disaster. all of the survivors have now passed away so i think it's important to use the wreck while the wreck still has something to say. the team are now analysing the footage they've captured to assess how long before the titanic is lost to the sea. rebecca morelle, bbc news.

that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. hello there. as we move into the latter part of august, it looks like summer is going to go for it with a real final flourish, and temperatures up to 30 celsius through the weekend and on into monday. which for some is of course a bank holiday. the reason being is we're going to get rid of these areas of low pressure that have brought quite cool weather to some parts through recent days, and also wet and windy conditions, they get squeezed away to the north with high pressure building 00:26:45,038 --> 2147483051:50:07,234 from the continent and as we 2147483051:50:07,234 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 plumb into a summery