i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: a vital debate gets underway between the top ten democrats looking to win the party's presidential nomination. it's only the start of australia's fire season down under, but more than 140 bushfires are already raging. i'm nuala mcgovern in london. also in the programme: the british prime minister insists he did not lie to the queen in order to suspend parliament. reporter: did you like to the queen when you advised her to prorogue, to suspend parliament? absolutely not. —— live to. and a special report from inside the deadly, dirty world of myanmar‘s jade mines

where hundreds die every year searching for green gold. announcer: live from our studios in london and singapore. this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 8am in singapore, 1am in london and 7pm in houston, texas, where the top 10 democrats vying to take on donald trump next year are taking to the stage for a televised debate. front runnerjoe biden will go head—to—head for the first time with elizabeth warren, his fast—rising rival. but others like bernie sanders, kamala harris, pete buttigeg and beto o'rourke are all looking to make their mark. laura trevelyan is in houston.

she's watching it all from there. laura, obviously it's the first time we are seeing joe biden come head to head with elizabeth warren, but there is a lot of other contenders too. what are their chances? well, that's right. there's ten candidates on stage tonight. the debate is about to begin. they have all filed in and are behind their podiums and finally the top contenders to take on donald trump and where the democratic mantle in the 2020 election has begun in earnest because we havejoe biden on the stage, flanked by the two progressives nipping at his heels, elizabeth warren, massachusetts senator, and bernie sanders, the vermont senator. what are people in the party looking for from the debate tonight? that's a question i

put to yvette simpson on the progressive wing. this is what she had to say. i'm looking for fireworks today. you've got the top candidates on the same stage for the first time, and that gives a lot of opportunity. this is the third debate, so now folks have got the jitters out of them and we should see clear conversation and good tone and good energy from everybody. eve ryone's concerned about the matchup between elizabeth warren and joe biden, but i don't think it will be as crazy as you think. warren, as you know, is a very prepared woman. if she gets attacked, as we expect my from joe biden, she won't take the bait. after her exchange with trump, people want to figure out what she does when she gets attacked. i hope she stays steady and stays on message and stays on her plans and how she's going to get this thing done. the interesting this will be how does bernie exist in this place? he is seen in some places rising and some places falling, people will wonder whether he will evolve and come up with things,

"i wrote a speech for that," he will say, and see if he digs into some of these plans that take on questions about paying for some of this stuff, which we know we can. we'll see what happens there. the bigger second question is you could get a julian castro, kamala harris, cory booker, they all need big moves today but what does that look like? what about electability, the polling shows that people going into the debate, they want someone electable and can beat donald trump. joe biden says he's the man, what do you think? i think any one of our candidates can beat donald trump. electability... his foundation is racism, sexism, so the idea that when we are in a pinch, the white guy can do it and i don't think that's true. the reason whyjoe biden might not be the most electable is he is from a previous generation. our party is shifting more brown and younger, so folks want to change. remember barack obama in 2008, everyone said hillary clinton is the one.

she was 19 points ahead of barack obama at this point in the race and then barack obama, hope and change, african—american, he takes over iowa and the rest is history, as you know. i think this electability conversation is wrong. the idea is you want the best candidate and you want to elect that and we think the best candidate could be a lot of people. i know we've got women, brown and black people, we've got differences of viewpoints, i love that, so i think the most electable candidate is the one that ends up winning. fascinating conversation earlier. give us a sense of the strategy is being taken by some of the speakers tonight, including front runnerjoe biden? the candidates are making their opening statements now. joe biden has said in previous debates that he is the person to take on donald

trump and restore american values. that's definitely going to be his pitch. a bit more broadbrush. his tea m pitch. a bit more broadbrush. his team are saying tonight knowsjoe biden has a target on his back as the front—runner, and he's saying he's going to take on the progressives who have a plan for everything, definitely aimed at elizabeth warren, her catchphrase is "i have a plan", what about washington and divided government? that's the pitch from the bidon camp and it should be an interesting night ahead. a really interesting night. itsjust night ahead. a really interesting night. its just started. night ahead. a really interesting night. itsjust started. give us night ahead. a really interesting night. its just started. give us an insight as to why houston, why have they decided to choose texas for this debate? yes. well, traditionally texas has been a ruby red state, in the republican column, but it's been trending a bit more purple. it's becoming much more diverse. that's partly why democrats

are holding this debate here at texas southern university, a historically black school, to show the diversity of texas. notjust black but also hispanic. democrats hope they could pick up this state, if not in 2020 then perhaps years to come. there was a close senate race between ted cruz and beto o'rourke, a candidate tonight, a former congressman from el paso. that's why texas, key to democrats' hopes of creating generational change in this country and cementing a new political coalition. laura trevelyan watching it all from us in houston, texas. thank you. let's take a look at some of the day's other news: the democrat—controlled housejudiciary committee in the us congress has voted to broaden its powers to investigate president trump. as you might imagine, the two parties didn't see eye to eye on the proceedings. the conduct under investigation poses a threat to our democracy. we have an obligation to respond

to this thread and we are doing so. —— threat. most democrats hate this president. they've decided that he's guilty regardless of what the facts say, and so instead the committee democrats feel no choice but to investigate and investigate and investigate. we'll have more on that story in just a few minutes' time. also making news today: russian security forces have carried out raids on offices used by allies of the russian opposition leader alexei navalny. hundreds of buildings are thought to have been searched, with armed men in masks seizing computer equipment. there were mass protests over the summer after many opposition candidates were blocked from running in elections in moscow. mr navalny accused president putin of ordering thursday's operation. translation: this time he got really upset because of the tactical vote, as his favourite offspring, his sweet child, i would say the united russia party has been busted in moscow and seriously beaten in the regions. yes he is upset, and he's stomping his little feet. a new report on deforestation says the planet

is losing an area of forest—land the size of britain every year. a group of civil society organisations say a five—year—old international agreement to protect the world's forests is failing. instead of deforestation being halved by next year, the amount of tropical woodlands lost actually grew by 44%. police in australia say arsonists could have started a bushfire that has forced hundreds of people to leave their homes on queensland's sunshine coast. 70 fires are burning across queensland and nearly 60 in new south wales. let's get more on this from our correspondent phil mercer, who's in sydney. field, we are being told these are some of the worst bushfires australia has seen in recent history

-- phil. australia has seen in recent history —— phil. arson is potentially behind them. what's the situation now? you're right, sharanjit. more than 100 fires are burning in new south wales and to the north in queensland. the australian prime minister, scottie, will visit some affected areas in the fire zone in queensland and in the coming hours, the conditions in that to get far worse. and the devil in this is the wind. already the area is very dry. there's been very little rain. the authorities are worried in the coming hours, those winds will pick up. they've had to draft in firefighters from other parts of australia to help with that emergency effort in queensland. at the moment, none of those fires are posing an immediate emergency situation. but as we say, towards the end of the day, that could well

change and the authorities say this has been a savage and an early start to the bushfire season in parts of eastern australia. that's right, phil. you say it's an early start to the season. it still technically winter there as well. how are residents being told to prepare, people being impacted by all of this? i think what's taken a lot of people by surprise, sharanjit, is some of the fires we've seen in the state of queensland are effectively considered to be suburban areas. people who live there don't ordinarily believe or think they need to have a bushfire survival plan. but certainly some of the fires we've seen in the last week or so are fires we've seen in the last week or so are quite a savage reminder to those people that they do live in a very precarious situation now, and that's all because of the drying that's all because of the drying that australia, or parts of eastern australia, has undergone in recent times. a long drought is getting

worse. as we say, there's no forecast or there's no decent rain in the forecast in the next few months. so these areas are tinder dry. add to that the area of the wind, and that's why some areas where people feel pretty safe are 110w where people feel pretty safe are now considered to be vulnerable. the advice is to have a plan, to know what to do. generally speaking, most australians, if they know their homes are in anyway to be affected bya homes are in anyway to be affected by a bushfire, they do plan to leave early. all right, phil mercer in sydney, thank you for that story for us. sydney, thank you for that story for us. let's turn to uk politics now. britain's prime minister boris johnson has denied misleading queen elizabeth about his reasons for suspending parliament. he's waiting for the uk's supreme court to rule on whether a court in scotland was right to say that his actions were unlawful. that's expected to happen on tuesday. here's our uk political editor, laura kuenssberg. almost a year to the day, this document was snapped by a beady—eyed photographer in westminster. a hint of the turmoil

the government believed might come if we leave without a deal. 12 months later, after leaks and suspicion, at last, ministers have been forced to publish the actual details. do you understand what on earth we're actually doing? great, because i don't. let's hope they do know what they're doing, because leaving without arrangements in place could mean shortages of some food, protests, severe disruption at the irish border, and much more. if we have to come out on october the 31st with no deal, we will be ready. and the ports will be ready, and the farming communities will be ready, and all the industries that matter will be ready for a no—deal brexit. all: stop the coup! after clashes in parliament, mps did change the law to make it much harderfor the government to take us out if there's no agreement with brussels by the end of october. but the prime minister is adamant he'd find a way round that to stick to his deadline. so neither side has any intention at this stage of backing down.

if we were to allow the country to leave without a deal on the 31st of october, we would not be serving our constituents well. we would be complicit in doing something that would be very disruptive in the short—term, very damaging in long term. reporter: is there any progress? do you want to tell us what's going on? i'm very impressed. the only clear way out of the wrangle for the prime minister is of course to do a deal with brussels and leave the eu in an orderly fashion. there are whispers of progress in london and brussels, but the eu's chief negotiator‘s not so sure. we are still ready to examine objectively any concrete and legally—operational proposal from the uk. the law has been changed to make it harder for the prime minister to take us out of the eu without a deal, but it's not completely off the table. so, while ministers suggest these are just worst—case scenarios, the anxiety in whitehall and beyond can't disappear. nor can downing street escape a judge's ruling yesterday

that the way they suspended parliament was against the law. number 10 is fighting on many fronts. this is not normal — the prime minister having to deny that he lied to the monarch. did you lie to the queen when you advised her to prorogue, to suspend parliament? absolutely not. indeed, as i say, the high court in england plainly agrees with us, but the supreme court will have to decide. there'll be that other verdict next week, but the opposition just doesn't buy the government's arguments, or whether they're ready for no—deal. that's why we are so angry that parliament was prorogued, because i should be in parliament at the moment with the ability to interrogate the prime minister and ministers. mps could be ordered back on the road to westminster by the courts next week. we're in a strange limbo. the only certainty — change of some sort is on the way.

you're watching newdsay on the bbc. still to come on the programme: japanese law guarantees paternity leave for fathers, so why do the few men who take it up face discrimination? george w bush: freedom itself was attacked this morning, and freedom will be defended. the united states will hunt down and punish those responsible. bishop tutu now becomes spiritual leader of 100,000 anglicans here, of the blacks in soweto township, as well as the whites in their rich suburbs. we say to you today in a loud and a clear voice "enough of blood and tears. enough!" translation: the difficult decision we reached together was one that required great

and exceptional courage. it's an exodus of up to 60,000 people caused by the uneven pace of political change in eastern europe. iam free! this is newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm nuala mcgovern in london. our top stories: all ten leading contenders for the us democratic party's presidential nomination are to debate together for the first time shortly. more than 140 bushfires are affecting the eastern states of australia — forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes.

the democrat—controlled house judiciary committee in the us congress has voted to broaden its powers to investigate president trump — which could eventually lead to impeachment — although this does not necessarily mean one will happen. a recent opinion poll says 59% of us voters oppose removing the president from office. here's our north america correspondent david willis. i asked whether the democrats are serious about pushing ahead with impeachment. this vote by the housejudiciary committee largely symbolic. this basically gives a slightly greater powers to an enquiry that's been investigating donald trump since way back in march. it probably gives... it won't lead to president donald trump being impeached, or probably indeed to a vote on his impeachment, not least because republicans control the senate, of course, which is where an impeachment trial would take place, and in fact democrats, to get on directly answering your question, democrats are deeply divided on this issue. the house speaker, nancy pelosi, leaves there is more currency, if you like, in getting

into grassroots issues, such as the economy, healthcare and so on in the run—up to the presidential election next year. she's probably mindful as well of the fact republicans in the 1990s brought impeachment proceedings against bill clinton only for them to be thrown out in the senate and for bill clinton's popularity to skyrocket. but progressives in her party have been agitating for impeachment proceedings against donald trump for quite some time, and those calls have grown, nuala, since members returned from the summer recess at the beginning of this week. they've no doubt been hearing calls from their constituents who favour impeachment proceedings against donald trump, so 30 more have put their names to impeachment proceedings.

currently 135 democrats out of a total of 235 in the house of representatives favour impeachment proceedings against donald trump, but for that to succeed, 218 votes are needed, so they're still quite clearly well clear of that. an employee in japan who wishes to remain anonymous is taking his company to court for "pata—hara" or paternity harassment. he says he's been sidelined at work since taking paternity leave to look after his two sons. the practice should be quite common injapan — the law there guarantees paternity leave. but, only 6% of men take it. in a similar but completely

separate case, glen wood, a canadian single dad who's lived injapan for 30 years, is also taking his company to court for unfair dismissal. his hearing begins in october — he spoke to me about his case. in 2015, my son was born prematurely and he was in the intensive care unit, a life or death situation. i'd applied for paternity leave which was rejected and then when i returned to work, i was harassed and fired. it's time for change in the workplace injapan. this type of behaviour‘s unacceptable. harassment is never an acceptable form of management and young men and women have the right to have children and enjoy their family and continue their careers. your employer, mitsubishi ufj morgan stanley, they actually dispute your claim and say they enthusiastically support employees' paternity leave and we know it has been guaranteed by law for about 20 years. only 6% of men currently take it. interesting that the other case that i mentioned, the person filing it, wishes to remain anonymous. tell us, why is there such a situation injapan like this?

indeed, the law's been in place for more than 20 years and it's an extremely good law for both men and women to take maternity and paternity leave. the fact is, very few men are able to put up their hand and take it and those that do, research shows, are then harassed and fired, which brings us back to the main point and why we've started the online petition at change.org. we need a zero tolerance policy for harassment in the workplace. harassment is never an acceptable form of management. and your case which is currently the one underway this week, it could potentially change things quite dramatically and sets something of a precedent. what will it take, do you think, to change these perceptions in japan? yes, this is very much ingrained injapanese corporate culture. to take holidays or take paternity leave is viewed as treasonous. we're doing a number of things. i've written a book in english and japanese which is due to be published, talking about my experience, the experience of others being harassed. tens of thousands of people have reached out to me about this issue. we're also very excited about launching an esg fund, e is environmental policy, s is for social policy, including harassment policies and g

is for corporate governance. so this gives investment managers an opportunity to put their money where their mouth is, to really invest in corporations which are adding value to society as well as being profitable, and i believe that's the very heart of capitalism. myanmar is home to the world's biggestjade mines. but the hundreds of thousands of so—called ‘scavengers' who search forjade are migrants, threatened by landslides, drug addiction and disease. this report is from bbc burmese.

that is it from us for now, goodbye. hello there. over the last couple of days, the remnants of two different ex—tropical weather systems have been in charge of our weather. first we had the leftovers of what was hurricane dorian passing to the north of the uk. we saw outbreaks of rain and brisk winds and during thursday, it was ex—tropical storm gabriel. not much left of it. and as a cold front moves away from the south on friday, high pressure builds in behind. we will be left with a lot of fine weather, good spells of sunshine but a significantly fresher feel. humid air that has been associated

with that x tropical storm pushed up to the continent. we start off with cloud in the channel islands and a bit of rain but that will clear quite quickly to than a lot of sunshine and dry for the majority. it will be windy in scotland but further south, the winds light. however, in the fresher air, temperatures a bit lower. temperatures of 20—21 degrees for plymouth, cardiff, london, more like 17 in aberdeen. through friday night, temperatures will dip away. particularly down towards the south—west where winds will remain light. further north, more in the way of a breeze in northern ireland and scotland and some rain pushing back into the far north—west. the overnight lows seeing one or two spots down towards the south getting down to three or four degrees. high pressure still in charge for most of us as we go into saturday morning but notice frontal systems trying to squash in towards the north—west, bringing some outbreaks of rain and also some pretty strong winds. much of the rain on saturday is likely to be confined to the northern and western parts

of scotland and a bit more cloud into northern ireland and the far north of england. further south, a lot more sunshine and temperatures creeping up in southern parts. 22-23. always cooler and fresher across the north where it will be windy and particularly windy on saturday night through the far north of scotland and then into sunday, it looks like this frontal system will try to push a bit further south but uncertain as to how far it will get. maybe patchy rain into northern england and north—west wales. to the north something fresher and to the south, we could get up to 25 degrees. all of us getting into fresher airfor the start of the new working week. with high pressure in charge, it will be largely dry.

i'm nuala mcgovern with bbc world news. our top story: the 10 leading candidates

for the democratic party's presidential nomination are about to debate together for the first time. the three front runners — joe biden, elizabeth warren and bernie sanders — are all in their 70s. younger candidates have failed to have much impact in the campaign so far. more than 140 bushfires are already raging across parts of australia, an unusually early start to the annual fire season. experts say they are fuelled by strong winds and a prolonged drought. and this video is trending on bbc.com. it's the world's biggest construction crane, which has just started work at the hinkley point nuclear power plant currently being built in western england. it's called big carl and can lift 5,000 tonnes at a single time. that's all. stay with bbc world news. you can find more background and analysis on all our top stories