i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore — the headlines: bolivia calls for co—operation to fight the wildfires raging through the amazon rainforest. we hear why indigenous people across the region fear for the future. opposition leaders in britain have pledged to work together to try to stop a no—deal brexit. i'm rico hizon in london. also in the programme: arrested twice in five weeks but still defending freedom of speech in the phillippines. we hearfrom journalist maria ressa.

for the generation growing up now, your battle will be the battle for truth. and — tough new rules on selling bab elephants to zoos. but will they help protect one of africa's most endangered species? live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 8 am in singapore, 1am in london and 9pm in bolivia, where president evo morales has welcomed what he called the "small" offer of financial aid from the g7 to help fight the fires in the amazon. the rainforest stretches across several south american countries including bolivia and brazil. satellite data shows the fires — mostly in the amazon region — are still burning at record levels. sophie long is in the brazillian city of altamira. the heart of the amazon, the world's lungs on fire.

a chorus of condemnation echoed around the world and this ecological disaster became a global political issue. brazil's president didn't strike the match that lit these flames but many say given his policies and his response to the crisis, he might as well have. we're just passing over an area of rainforest that is still burning. my guide tells me it's farmland but it's very close to indigenous land — home to wildlife and also a tribe of people that has almost no contact with the outside world. it means they also have almost no means by which to put out the fires that are raging towards them. the fate of many amazonian people now lies in the government's hands. so, what is the greatest threat to the land where your community live? in the forest on the banks of the xingu river, kumaripa xipaya tells me it's brazil's leaders. translation: one of the biggest threats my people face today is our government. they are trying to destroy the amazon, to exterminate our people.

they are the people trying to destroy our country and the amazon. but president bolsonaro seems more concerned with brazil's sovereignty. he's accused the french president of treating brazil like a colony. today, as their diplomatic spat continued, jair bolsonaro said he might accept international assistance if president macron withdraws his insults. some blame for the blazes has been directed at farmers who want to raze the forest for their crops and cattle, but adelardo cover and his daughter, who've worked the land here for more than three decades, tell me farmers are not to blame and nor is their president. translation: it's people acting illegally who want to claim the forest. farmers who own registered land don't burn and they don't deforest. we have to leave promptly — the community here are angry about the way their country and their president are being portrayed. a group of indigenous leaders say the fires are just one

of many threats to the amazon. one spoke anonymously because he fears for his life. he says his community have been threatened. if they don't leave their land by wednesday, they'll be killed. while miners and loggers continue to encroach on the scorched earth of the amazon, president bolsonaro says he will re—evaluate the laws surrounding indigenous lands, in order to increase productivity. meanwhile, the largest rainforest on the planet continues to smoulder. sophie long, bbc news. altamira in the amazon. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. here in the uk, opposition parties have agreed to work together to try to pass legislation to stop a no—deal brexit. the labour party leader, jeremy corbyn, says mps will take the first steps next week. here's our political correpsondent nick eardley. the plan is next tuesday they will apply for an emergency debate in the house of commons. if they are successful,

they then hope to basically seize control of parliament, to take the order paper and say on certain days we want to discuss x, x being a piece of legislation that if passed would compel boris johnson to go to the eu and ask for another brexit extension if, by mid october, the prospect of a no deal brexit looms. is it guaranteed to succeed? no. it is still a difficult task for these mps and they still have a lot of work to do to make it happen. the fact thatjeremy corbyn has agreed to this legislative route is a big thing. he had another plan that has been put on the back burner and now, for the first time really, opposition parties have united to try and force the government's hand on this. what has been the reaction from the government and boris johnson on the strategy? they are furious. it thinks it undermines its talks with the eu because brussels

is less likely to budge on the contentious parts of the brexit withdrawal agreement if it looks like mps may block a no deal brexit. borisjohnson has been adamant, as is hisjob, to deliver brexit on october 31. it sets up an almighty political battle when parliament returns next week. one other thing, in the last few minutes it has been announced that the new chancellor sajid javid will hold his first spending review and announce a bunch of spending plans on wednesday next week. a lot of speculation that he will offer some goodies to the public, maybe preparing for an election if parliament cannot solve this issue. a federaljudge has blocked the state of missouri from enforcing a law banning abortion after eight weeks. the law was due to come into force on wednesday. similar rulings, affecting arkansas and ohio were made earlier this year.

us media is reporting that the drugs company purdue pharma is offering more than $10 billion to settle a variety of lawsuits. plaintiffs allege the firm, which is owned by the sackler family, started and sustained the opioid crisis. on monday a judge in oklahoma fined johnson and johnson half a billion dollars for its part in fuelling the crisis. progress has been made on forming a new government in italy and avoiding a snap election. the democrats and the anti—establishment five—star movement are due to update the italian president later on wednesday. it now looks likely that the independent politician, giuseppe conte, will stay on as prime minister. it's unclear whether former premier league side bolton wanderers has secured a takeover to stop them going out of business.

they've been given a new 14 day deadline to complete a deal or face expulsion from the league. not such good news for neighbours bury — they have had their membership of the league removed following failed talks at securing a takeover. more than a dozen women — who claim they were sexually abused by the disgraced american financier, jeffrey epstein — have told a court in manhattan how angry they are that he died in prison and avoided justice. after the hearing, one of the women, who has alleged she was forced to have sex with prince andrew, called on him to "come clean" about what he has done. the prince has strenuously denied any form of sexual misconduct. chris buckler reports. jeffrey epstein‘s victims came to court to be seen and, most importantly, heard. they once expected to be able to face the man who abused them. his death robbed them

of that opportunity, but they told in graphic and upsetting detail the truth and impact of epstein‘s crimes. before i knew what was happening, he grabbed onto my wrist and tugged me towards the bed. i tried to pull away but he was unbuttoning my shorts and pulling my body onto his already naked body faster than i could think. i was searching for words but all i could say was a meek no, please, stop, but that just seemed to excite him more. he continued to rape me and when he was finished, hopped off and went to the shower. i pulled my shorts up and i ran as fast as i could back to my own villa, my feet bloody from the rocks. i cried myself to sleep that night. i want to thank the judge for letting us speak. having some closure. it's still going to be a rough road but i also wanted to thank all the survivors that had reached out to me as well and telling me their stories. inside court, many of the women asked for their real names not to be used but they became emotional and some broke down in tears

as they talked about the crimes they suffered at the hands ofjeffrey epstein. they talked about being abused, exploited and manipulated by a man who they described as a complex villain. epstein was accused of being a coward for taking his own life rather than face justice, but his lawyers said they had significant doubts about his death inside a jail in manhattan. they claimed his injuries were more consistent with an assault and they raised concerns about video footage from a corridor outside his cell in the prison. when they went to examine it, it was corrupted and couldn't be viewed. whether it was a suicide or murder does not end the case, does not end their fight forjustice. it does not end their feeling that they were manipulated and victimised. and that they were child victims. of mr epstein. so today they spoke truth to power, they spoke truth to what happened to them.

but questions remain for those who were once among epstein‘s famous friends, including donald trump and the duke of york. he has categorically denied allegations he had sex with a girl exploited by epstein. virginia roberts giuffre who has made accusations was at court. he knows exactly what he has done and i hope he comes clean about it. thank you. many victims are pursuing civil cases. even if this criminal case is at an end. he may be dead but today is unlikely to be the last day they speak ofjeffrey epstein and his crimes. chris buckler, bbc news. conservationists have agreed the selling of baby african elephants to international zoos must stop. the convention on international trade in endangered species decided to tighten the rules on taking elephants from the wild. cassandra koenen is from the welfare organization world animal protection.

what the decision means is that it will change the lives of baby elephants and, frankly, is a near ban on the live trade of african elephants out of africa. this is an amazing result and we could not be more thrilled with it. zimbabwe and botswana are major exporters of elephants to different zoos around the world but the big question is why did the us oppose it? it is hard to speak for exactly why the countries who did oppose this did but what they said on the floor during the debates was that there was a concern that because these will be appendix two elephants, that they will have more protection and there will be stricter regulations than appendix one elephants. that was the argument given on the floor.

why not a total ban? a mere ban could still have loopholes. we believe that for entertainment purposes this is a ban on the trade of wild elephants. i cannot imagine any situation that would be deemed acceptable or appropriate, even with the amendments, that would allow for the trade of these elephants for the use of entertainment. why it is being considered a near ban is that in extraordinary situations, emergencies or extraordinary situations, there could be an argument, a case made to move some elephants out of an in situ situation, an arranged state and into an ex situ situation such as in europe or the us. this is a landmark decision?

100%. because it is strict regulations and decisions will be made based on science and an consultation with the animal committees. an extraordinary situation it would be if that were to happen. the eu voted for the ban with some revisions to the text. what were their rejections to a total ban? —— objections? there are elephants that have been traded to zoos in europe and if those elephants needed to be moved within europe that would not be allowed within the text as originally presented. that was one concern. as well as extraordinary situations where measures needed to be taken to protect the species and theyjust wanted, our belief is theyjust wanted to put that language into the decisions for more clarity. we don't feel it was necessary but that is what got past today.

you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the scottish sisters praised by the emergency services after they rescued a father and son from the sea — with their lilo. he's the first african—american to win the presidential nomination of a major party, and he accepts exactly 45 years ago to the day that martin luther king declared, "i have a dream." as darkness falls, an unfamiliar light will appear in the south—eastern sky. an orange glowing disc that's brighter than anything save the moon — our neighbouring planet mars. horn toots there is no doubt that this election is an important milestone in the birth of east timor as the world's newest nation.

it will take months and billions of dollars to repair what katrina achieved injust hours. three weeks is the longest the great clock has been off duty in 117 years. so it was with great satisfaction that clockmakerjohn vernon swung the pendulum to set the clock going again. big ben bongs this is newsday on the bbc. our top stories: bolivia has called for unity and co—operation to fight the fires raging through the amazon rainforest. it's welcomed an offer of billions of dollars of international aid, although it's said it may not be enough. opposition leaders in britain have pledged to work together to stop a no—deal brexit.

let's take a look at some front pages from around the world: the strait times shows one of the giant water bags used to fight fires in the amazon. brazilian air force warplanes are dumping thousands of litres of water on the burning forest. germany's frankfurter allgemeine has devoted two front page stories to the us opioid crisis. as we reported yesterday, a us court has ordered johnson &johnson to pay $572 million for its role in the drug epidemic. and the south china morning post reports that hong kong's leader, carrie lam, says she's considering using emergency powers to quash the anti—government protests. they could give her the ability to make rules without the approval of lawmakers.

we'll bring you more on how the protests are effecting life in hong kong injust a moment. now, what stories are sparking discussions online? this one has got to do with some frantic shoppers! mad shoppers, particularly in shanghai. let me take you straight to shanghai and show you these scenes from earlier — people clambering over each other eager to try the bulk buy experience of us supermarket chain costco. ironically, its huge social media push backfired and the store was forced to close early on its opening day, thousands crammed the aisles and caused massive trafficjams in nearby neighbourhoods. that is what is trending today. quite a crowd. months of unrest in hong kong has taken its toll on the city and some locals have had enough. migration agents say they've seen a spike in the number of

hong kong citizens applying to migrate, with australia high on the list. here's the hong kong—based migration agent, john hu. in the last three months, you know, our number of enquiries basically have increased three to four times. and demand for this has really gone up, nearly doubled, so i can see that people are more determined to apply for their residence overseas, based on the recent ordinance which has caused recent social unrest. we have seen this happen before in the past in hong kong, masses of people trying to leave. certainly in the 1990s, leading up to the handover, there was a lot of migration as well of hong kong people, so is this a spike that's potentially, you know, are you seeing a much higher incidence of this happening versus before? one thing that i have observed is that maybe 50% of people are determined to leave hong kong

once they get a visa, but another half of them will probably be looking for what we call plan b, that is, they may not leave hong kong instantly but they would like to have some sort of a residence status just in case they decided to set off permanently overseas. and in fact, i havejust returned back from lisbon, portugal, last night and the economies from the eu countries are quite appealing to those who are looking for a plan b because their residence requirement is not as demanding as australia, canada, us and uk. maria ressa is a prominent filipino—american journalist — who's made a powerful enemy in philippine president, rodrigo duterte. her repeated arrests have drawn

international condemnation and raised concerns about worsening press freedom in the country. but she says she won't stop speaking out. here's her story. within five weeks, i was arrested twice and detained once. in order to be able to travel, to be here today, i have had to post at least $60,000 plus, plus, plus in bail and bond. after i had to spend the night in detention, when i realised i was not free, when i had not done anything wrong, i realised that i needed to fight for my rights, for the freedom of the press.

we're getting an average of maybe eight dead bodies a night coming in. the social media campaign accounts that were used to help elect then—mayor duterte to president, this whole network was weaponized, injuly of 2016 and it attacked anyone who questioned the killings and the drug war. in october of 2016, thsi 3—part series which we published, the propaganda wars, gave you evidence of state—sponsored hate spewing on social media. after we published, i was stunned that evening because then i started getting a stream of attacks. some were really, like, just — "i am going to kill you," then the rape threats, then the misogynist attacks. how do you prevent tribalism from inciting hate and violence for the generation growing up now? your battle is going to be the battle for truth.

the emergency services in scotland have praised two teenage sisters who rescued a father and son from the sea off the coast of aberdeen—shire, in the far north of the country. the girls swam out on a lilo to help them when they heard cries for help as lorna gordon reports. they are the two teenage sisters whose quick reactions saved a man and his young son from drowning. we were just swimming and we were, like, at knee height,

and we heard the little boy screaming. so we thought his dad was dunking him under the water and wetting him and stuff, but then the dad started shouting, "help", and we realised he was in trouble. the beach here is known for its undercurrents and with the water cold, the man was tiring quickly. isla swam out and lifted the toddler onto an inflatable lilo, before getting the man to lie his head across it as best he could. to be honest, i wasn't thinking. i wasjust like, "i need to get on it", because i saw him going under the water and then trying to come up for breath but, because his son was on top of him, he was trying to keep him up, he wasn't getting any breath, so it was like, get out of there as quickly as you can. bystander keith gray, who spotted what was happening, joined in to help. when all were safely back on shore, the sisters phoned 999. before being airlifted out, the father was able to thank his rescuers. the teenagers, though, don't think they are heroes, they said theyjust did what had to be done. but the local lifeboat team said their presence and actions

made all the difference, and they all deserve medals. lorna gordon, bbc news. we salute the sister heroes. you have been watching newsday. i'm rico in london. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore stay with us. coming up: going for gold and silver. with trade tensions and ressession risks, investors are flocking to the safe haven of precious metals. but how high can prices go and how long can they keep their sparkle? check out those gold bars! before we go, we'd like to leave you with these pictures — this baboon is finding the heatwave in paris all too much. as animals sweltered in the french capital zookeepers have been working round the clock to ensure the animals keep cool. frozen sliced cucumbers and ice cubes packed with hazlenuts were on the menu, and they seem

to be rather popular, don't you think! thank you for watching. hello, once again. it's time we got you right up—to—date with how we see the rest of the week developing right across the british isles, and the rest of the week is certainly going to be marked by quite a considerable change for some parts, in that it will be cooler, wetter and windier and, for that change, we have to thank a frontal system which has been lurking away towards the north—western quarter of the british isles in recent days. itjust hasn't managed to get across the british isles simply because of the presence of the high pressure that has brought the heat from the continent, particularly to easter areas. but wednesday sees this weather front producing some really quite heavy bursts of rain across the southwest, through wales, and then to the midlands, on towards the north—east of england, during the latter part of the afternoon. and there the temperature profile — no more the 33, it's closer to 23 or 2a as a high, and cooler than that

across northern and western parts, where at least there will be a bright end to the day. but come thursday, we'll be looking again towards the atlantic to see progress of more atlantic weather fronts into northern and western parts of the british isles. so it's wet and windy fare for the western side of scotland, through to northern ireland, too. generally speaking, quite a bit of cloud across england and wales, but a lot of dry weather. and again, that temperatures just about pushing to 23 or 2a at best, on notable south—westerly breeze. from thursday on into friday, we're just going to follow the line of the front back into the atlantic. a little ripple in that weather front thickens the cloud, and eventually another pulse of pretty wet weather gets into the western part of scotland, initially, then right across scotland, through northern ireland, into the northern parts of england and maybe just flirting with the north—western quarter of wales. again, thanks to the influence of a bit of a high—pressure, the south should be that wee bit drier. friday on towards the weekend, we've still got that same weather front just weaving its way across the british isles but, once that front has made its way

down and across us, notice how those colours really begin to drain away, and here we are into the yellow hues, with a touch of blue there, creeping into northern and western parts of the british isles. a taste of autumn, dare i say it, just in time for the meteorological start of autumn on sunday. so saturday sees the progression of that weather front ever further towards the south — slow progress there. so south—eastern parts may well stay dry for a good part of the day. but once the weather front completes its journey, then we're inot a north north—westerly flow, hence that chillier feel right across the piste, and it will be a day marked by sunny spells and showers and, as i say, meteorological autumn arrives with a bang.

i'm rico hizon with bbc news.

our top story. bolivia has called for co—operation and unity to fight the wildfires raging in the amazon rainforest. an offer of $20 billion from the g7 has been welcomed by the bolivian president — although he said it might not be enough. brazil has refused to take the aid because of an argument with president macron of france. the women who accused jeffrey epstein of sexual abuse speak out in court, angry that his death has robbed them of justice. they were speaking as the criminal case against him was dismissed following his death. and this video is trending on bbc.com: it shows what happened when the us supermarket costco opened a new store in shanghai. huge crowds of people turned up, competing with each other to grab a bargain. eventually, the store had to close early on its opening day. that's all. stay with bbc news. for more on all our stories —

go to the bbc news website.