welcome to bbc news, i'm mike embley. our top stories: walkouts expected around the world. protestors prepare for global climate change strikes and demonstrations. we're live in sydney. trudeau under pressure. the canadian prime minister apologises again as more footage emerges of him in blackface make—up. it's crunch time in tokyo. japan is hours away from becoming the first asian nation to host the rugby world cup. the surgery that doesn't involve surgeons. we meet a nurse in ethiopia who is saving lives without the normal training.

millions are beginning tojoin a day of demonstrations around the world, demanding action on climate change, ahead of next week's un summit. they're expected to spread from the asia—pacific through europe and africa to the americas. we can take you live now to sydney, in australia, where protests are under way. we understand thousands of australian school students walking out of classrooms across the country. they have particular problems with the current government's environmental policies. all this three days ahead of the climate summit in new york, and in the wake of the strikes in march this year in which 150,000 people marched in australia. 1.5 million, roughly, took part worldwide. these strikes are expected to be bigger, and there is likely to be a stronger presence from unions, workers and companies who have signed up to strike in solidarity with the young

activists. we will be speaking to oui’ activists. we will be speaking to our correspondent here in just a few moments, but i am going to come back to him in a moment, i think. the growing pressure to curb the emissions that are warming the world has not stopped president trump overturning more environmental regulations. he is trying to stop california setting stricter targets for vehicles and taken a big step towards opening up the alaskan wildlife refuge for oil and gas drilling. 0ur north america correspondent aleem maqbool reports from another climate battleground, in colorado. the north fork valley in colorado is an area of stunning diversity of landscape. lush, green valleys beside striking, stark desert terrain, plateau mountains, and dense pine forests. but it also sits on one of the largest shale gas reserves in the us, leaving these pockets of untouched splendour severely under threat — perhaps now more than ever.

well, this gas well has been in operation not farfrom north fork for many years, but the trump administration is pushing aggressively for more wells to be drilled on public lands. but that includes areas of natural beauty, and even wildlife refuges. in just its first year, the trump administration offered up nearly 12 million acres of public lands to oil and gas companies, six times as much as the 0bama administration the previous year. this land was only settled a little over 100 years ago... those opposed to energy companies developing here say they're just not being listened to. why are we trashing some of our remarkable landscapes and pristine landscapes just so somebody can make a profit? it doesn't make sense. why the rush to get at these areas, that we'll never be able to put ‘em back in the same way? but the current administration is proud that us oil and gas

production is going up. this is an opportunity, maybe, for us to be able to export. we can export now into japan, we have some contracts... but at what expense to the environment? well, again i will point to my state. you know, we have some of the most stringent environmental requirements put in place. in fact, environmental regulations, like on emissions, on protecting wildlife, on drilling and pollution, have been overturned at an astonishing rate in favour of oil and gas companies. we've seen attacks on some of our most fundamental regulations meant to protect our natural resources, really bedrock environmental regulations, and we've seen definite efforts by the trump administration to reduce the amount of input that the community can provide to these important decisions. already, more than 50 rules to protect the environment have been

scrapped, and all the signs are even more are on their way out — good for the us oil and gas industry, bad for the environment and for climate change. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in the north fork valley, colorado. canada's prime minister, justin trudeau, has issued a new apology after fresh video emerged of him wearing blackface make—up at a student talent show. so—called blackface has a notorious history as a racist caricature, and the images are especially problematic for a politician who has positioned himself as a champion of diversity and tolerance, facing a tight election campaign. he now says he can't even recall exactly how often he has worn blackface. from 0ttawa, nick bryant reports. in this age of celebrity politicians, justin trudeau is a politician who became a celebrity. youthful, telegenic, a leader who seemed to embody the values of modern—day progressivism, a model of political correctness.

but this photo presents a very different picture, showing him wearing blackface make—up at a private—school gala in 2001. an arabian nights costume party where, as a 29—year—old teacher, he was dressed as a charaterfrom aladdin. his message today — "forgive me, i've changed." darkening yourface, regardless of the context or the circumstances, is always unacceptable because of the racist history of blackface. i should have understood that then, and i never should have done it. more blackface photos have emerged, and a video has surfaced from the early ‘90s showing a young justin trudeau sticking his tongue out and making faces. all this in the midst of an election campaign in which mr trudeau had already been reeling from a corruption scandal. blackface is now recognised as a racist caricature, and his opponents are piling in. any time we hear examples of brownface or blackfacing, it's really — it's making a mockery

of someone for what they live, and what their lived experiences are. i think he needs to answer for it. the young prime minister has always sought to portray canada as one of the world's most successfully multicultural countries. here, he greeted syrian refugees at the airport. this damages his political brand. but in the capital, 0ttawa, today, most people we spoke to were forgiving. it is nothing, because it was — he was very young at the time. and it was canada, it's not the us. we don't have the same history here that they have in the us. do you find it offensive? i do. he has positioned himself as a liberal counterpoint to donald trump, but his golden boy image has been tarnished. let's get some of the day's other news: the brazilian mining giant vale has been ordered to pay nearly $3 million to the family of several victims of a dam collapse in january. the sentence by a court in the state of minas gerais is the first

successful individual claim against the company. more than 300 people died in the disaster. the former president of tunisia has died in exile aged 83. zine el abidine ben ali was forced from office after two decades in power by mass street protests, which triggered a wave of similar uprisings across the arab world. he was sentenced in his absence to 35 years in prison for embezzling public money. facebook‘s chief executive has been talking with president trump at the white house. on twitter, mr trump said it had been a nice meeting. 0n capitol hill earlier, mark zuckerberg met members of congress and rejected calls for him to break up the social network. the former british prime minister sirjohn major has accused the current prime minister, borisjohnson, of being dishonest about his reasons for suspending parliament. speaking through his lawyer at the supreme court, sirjohn said the only reason mrjohnson wanted a longer than usual suspension of parliament

was to stop mps interfering in his brexit plans. the government argues it is not a matter for the courts at all. here is richard lister on day three of an extraordinary case. it seems at times like an argument without end. but those who gathered outside the supreme court today, intent on either stopping a coup or stopping the eu, knew that the arguments inside, at least, would end today. but not before one former conservative prime minister offered a damning assessment of boris johnson for suspending parliament. his lawyer said it was inescapable that the real reason was to avoid scrutiny of brexit, and the government had not told the truth. that the reasons set out in the documents put before the court by the prime minister can't be true and complete reasons

for the decision. he said suspending parliament was motivated by mrjohnson's political interests. this is the issue at hand — whether borisjohnson asked the queen to suspend parliament to stop mps scrutinising his brexit process. the length of the prorogation was motivated or at least strongly influenced by the prime minister's wished to prevent scrutiny by parliament, because he regarded parliament as a threat to the successful implementation of his policies. but it doesn't prevent accountability beyond parliament, where again, the executive will be questioned and held to account either by the public, the media, or indeed during the party political conference season at each of those conferences, no doubt. courts in scotland and england came to different conclusions about whether the suspension of parliament was lawful. the supreme court must now decide which of them was right.

the rugby world cup gets under way later in tokyo, first time the tournament is being hosted by an asian nation. it's only four years since japan's team, the cherry blossoms, caused a huge shock with their 311—32 victory over south africa in england. now they will be hoping to build on that stunning victory on home soil. 0ur correspondentjoins us from tokyo. you had better remind us why it is happening injapan at all. indeed, mike. iguess it is happening injapan at all. indeed, mike. i guess the question is why not? because the aim is to spread the popularity of the sport, if you like, beyond your usual rugby playing nations like england, new zealand, australia, south africa. and of course, asia is the most populous region on the planet, and japan actually has the biggest rugby playing population in asia. and japan isn't a stranger to hosting big international sport tournaments. japan was the first asian country to host the fifa world cup back into thousand and two, alongside south

korea. and from the japanese point of view, i think it's good practice ahead of the tokyo 0lympics next summer “— ahead of the tokyo 0lympics next summer —— in 2002. but of course, baseball, football, sumo are a lot more popular than rugby, so there we re more popular than rugby, so there were some concerns about ticket sales, especially outside of big cities. but i think it is fair to say that the locals are quite excited about it. you know, do they know all the details of the rugby rules ? know all the details of the rugby rules? probably not, but they are definitely excited to be hosting this event, and they are gathering later this evening to watch the match that is going to take place inside the tokyo stadium between japan and russia. and i think the forecast is for 500,000 visitors in the six weeks, and notjust in the big city such as tokyo and osaka. would you say they are ready? well, that's been the big question, because of course there is a language barrier, and also there are some issues of mannerisms. so the british embassy, for example, released some youtube videos of how

not to behave. don't hug, don't bring this, don't bring that, don't get into trouble. they have been some concerns about that, but also theissues some concerns about that, but also the issues — the sensitive issues of tattoo ‘s, which rugby players, many of them have, but here injapan they are associated with organised crime known as the accuser. so there have been some concerns about whether players will cover them up, and some of the players reportedly have been covering them up outside of when they are not playing inside a stadium —— the yakuza. but nevertheless, despite all those sensitive issues, i think a lot of people are excited for the six week tournament. of course, localsupport will depend on how the home team does. you talk about that shock victory over south africa back in 2015, and a lot of people are hoping that the japanese team will at least get to the quarterfinals. thank you very much for that. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: why gay rights activists in south korea say lack of laws to protect them is forcing many young people to take their own lives.

30 hours after the earthquake that devastated mexico city, rescue teams still have no idea just how many people have died. there is people alive and there is people not alive. we just can help and give them whatever we've got. a state funeral is being held for princess grace of monaco at the church where she married prince rainier 26 years ago. it looked as though they had come to fight a war, but their mission is to bring peace to east timor, and nowhere on earth needs it more badly. the government's case is being forcefully presented by monsieur badinter, the justice minister. he's campaigned vigorously for the abolition, having once witnessed one of his clients being executed. elizabeth seton spent much of her time at this grotto, and every year, hundreds of pilgrimages are made here. now that she's become a saint, it's expected that this area will be inundated with tourists. the mayor and local businessmen regard the anticipated boom as just

another blessing of st elizabeth. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: preparing to protest for the planet — students around the world get ready for friday climate change strikes. justin trudeau — canada's prime minister — faces heavy criticism after more footage emerges of him in blackface makeup. at least 1,000 people have been rescued and hundreds of flights cancelled as heavy rains pummel parts of texas and louisiana. tropical depression imelda is slowly weakening, but has caused widespread flash—flooding. gareth barlow reports. in houston, roads became rivers. flash—floods inundated the region, amid forecasts that tropical depression imelda could dump close to a metre of rain in some areas. the state's governor, greg abbott, declared a state of emergency

in more than a dozen counties, as the storm knocked out power and left people stranded in their homes and cars. wherever you are, please stay where you are. do not think, because you look out and the weather is bad, let me get home. because essentially you will be leaving a safe place, getting out on the road, where there's a lot of water, and you will be heading into dangerous conditions. 100 km east of houston, a hospital in the town of winnie was evacuated as rising waters threatened the wards. some areas experienced the worst flooding since hurricane harvey killed more than 60 people two years ago. further rain is expected throughout thursday and friday. it usually takes ten years to train as a surgeon in ethiopia — but some people are learning to carry out emergency operations

in much less time — and they're not even surgeons. it's part of a government scheme to improve access to safe and affordable surgery. we followed a nurse who's performing caeasarian sections, and saving the lives of mothers and babies. lily freeston reports. this mother has been in labourfor three days. her baby is in the wrong position and may not survive. she isn't adapting. translation: remember my first case. i knew what to expect but when you hold a knife and run it through someone's skin, that the something else. that was a different experience. this hormone used to be a nurse. normally it takes ten years to train as a surgeon in ethiopian but she trained to operate in just three. the country has a shortage of surgeons of the government ‘s training staff produces aryans and other emergency procedures. today

she has rushed into hospital to see a patient for serious convocations with the baby and to make matters worse, power keeps cutting out. finally she gets the baby out. but he isn't breathing so to nurses tried to resuscitate him. today has gone well, if she hadn't been there, the baby almost certainly would have died. event to servers just make a bend to surgical offices have done more than 30a20

thousand cesarea ns. they offices have done more than 30a20 thousand cesareans. they had similar success rates to teams are fully trained surgeons. from 2005 to 2015, they help to reduce the mother is dying in childbirth by half. 5 billion people worldwide don't have access to safe surgery. ethiopian hopes this programme will produce that number. that out of the operation, she is recovering. she named her son, emmanuel. translation: i'm very happy and i actually ecstatic, when i came here i was so stressed, i was so worried. i was so stressed, i was so worried. i was prepared to die with my child. it isa i was prepared to die with my child. it is a miracle that i have a baby now. lgbtq campaigners in south korea believe the lack of an anti—discrimination law in the country could be costing young lives. surveys suggest nearly half of all gay and lesbian teenagers in the east asian country attempt suicide. many feel that being gay is treated

as a disability or a mental illness. laura bicker has been finding out why many south koreans find it hard to live with being lgbtq. "you'll burn in hell." "you'll get aids." those are the insults shouted at members of the lgbt community as they squeeze their way through an intimidating line of protesters on their way to a gay pride festival. the very vocal protestant christian community say they do it not out of hate, but of love. the true love is just to stop them going to hell. we just shout, "if you go there, you are going to hell!" translation: homosexuality is a country—ruining disease. if you commit a homosexual act, the country will perish. last year, this festival took a more violent turn as protesters tried to stop the lgbt community from marching. the voices of a few hundred people who wanted to celebrate their love were drowned out by thousands who believe it's a sin.

the lack of acceptance is too much for some to bear and it's the kind of discrimination which could be costing young lives. nearly half of all young lgbt people try to commit suicide. alienated from society, they feel they will never be accepted. kim wook—suk knows this all too well. he was 20 when a co—worker outed him as gay. translation: it felt like the sky was falling down. i was so scared and shocked. the restaurant owners told me they cannot work with a homosexual. they told me they did not want me to spread homosexuality to the co—workers. they then told his mother, who flung him out of the house. alone and homeless, he also found he'd become a target. a man i didn't recognise came up to be saying,

"homosexuality is a sin and it cannot be forgiven." then he suddently started to beat me with a bamboo sword. south korea is one of the most conservative countries in east asia in terms of gay rights. one study ranks it just above russia. translation: korean conservative christians have said that discrimination should not be made illegal and the government have accepted the small but vocal opinion as the majority of society. so it really hinders any active measures to adopt and respond to the need to protect the rights of sexual minorities. back in incheon, two foreigners brave a kiss in front of the protesters. it's a public show of affection most gay men in south korea can only dream of. but hope remains that one day soon, they will be free to love whoever

they choose without discrirmination. laura bicker, bbc news, incheon. more on the climate stress, the 12—year—old is one of the strikers, he's travelled from florida to washington, dc and he spoke to the bbc‘s respondent. washington, dc and he spoke to the bbc's respondent. what having to achieve is to show adults that we ca re achieve is to show adults that we care and to show the people that we are in power, we care and we need to be taking action to save our future and our lives. why is it your generation is leading the way on climate change and not mine? their recent direct the reason it's my generation and not yours is because the adults haven't been taking another action and so we need to be taking action and the adults are welcome to strike with us that we are the ones that are leading this. you live in a barrier island in

florida, tell me about what you see that makes you think that climate change is real. so the island are live on is on the east coast of florida. and this barrier island other one is at sea level and because of when this hurricanes, we often times experience flooding and so we need to be taking action if we wa nt to so we need to be taking action if we want to save my barrier island from going underwater. you are suing the federal government over climate change, what it —— what is it want to see the government do differently? what i want to see them differently? what i want to see them differently as i wanted ( want them to be taking action and being responsible for the actions have caused, they are literally killing us. the people that are from low income communities that are minorities, they have been affected more and everyone has been affected

but we need to be taking action if you want to have a future on this planet. just obvious, talking to laura. the winner of the mercury prices gone to the south london rapper, dave. his album has been a huge hit, it looks at issues of race, class and grieve, it has been called the boulders of british pop album in a generation. he was a moment dave won and brought his mother up onstage with him. i want to thank god, i wa nt to with him. i want to thank god, i want to invite my mum, i want to invite my mum up on stage. in case you haven't seen it and millions of people have, catch the clip of dave at customary this year, doing his song with the help of a

fan. that's it for now, thank you so much watching. hello there. temperatures are set to climb over the next couple of days. friday morning will start off with some fog patches in places but that should tend to lift and clear fairly quickly and then we'll see a lot of sunshine and some real warmth as well. high pressure is centred just about here. you can see the winds rotating around it in a clockwise direction. the high pressure keeping the rain—bearing cloud at bay for the time being out in the atlantic. one or two fog patches across southern scotland. northern england could be the odd dense patch of fog, some potentially for northern ireland as well but as we go through the day, any fog will lift and we will see patches of cloud drifting northwards but a lot of sunshine across most

parts of the uk and temperatures widely between 19 and 22 degrees. but with the south or south—easterly winds blowing across the uk, the favoured spot for high temperatures will actually be the north of scotland, particularly when you get some shelter to the north of high ground. could well see 23 or 2a degrees. now, as we go through friday night, it's going to stay dry. there will be long, clear spells overhead. we'll see more of a breeze at this stage so i don't think there'll be too many problems with mist and fog and it's not going to be quite as chilly as some nights we've had recently. some spots holding up in double digits. 1a degrees there for plymouth, for example, dropping down to 9 in glasgow and newcastle. but for saturday, we have this feed of air coming up from the south or the south—east. pretty warm wind direction, fairly humid as well. high pressure holding onto the first half of the weekend but notice these frontal systems out in the atlantic. these will eventually make their move and turn things quite a lot more unsettled. saturday then, the most reliably dry day for many parts of the uk.

a lot of fine weather, lots of sunshine too but notice the odd thunderstorm late in the day through the south—west of england, parts of wales, maybe northern ireland as well. temperatures, though, 21 degrees in glasgow. the south—east of england could get to 25, maybe 26 degrees. through saturday night, though, there's the increasing chance we could see thundery downpours drifting across western areas ahead of this frontal system. it is a cold front. it could be moving erratically northeastwards as we move to sunday. some uncertainty about where it will come to rest with its outbreaks of rain for the afternoon but ahead of it, another warm day, 23 or 2a degrees but behind that cold front, the air turns colder. it will feel much cooler and much fresher and that leads us into a cooler, fresher week generally for all of us next week and there will be some wind and rain at times. it is going to feel quite autumnal.

this is bbc news. the headlines: millions of people from australia to iceland are expected to skip school or work today to demand urgent measures to stop environmental catastrophe. this is the scene in sydney a short time ago, as protests take place in around 150 countries. they are likely to be one of the largest environmental demonstrations in history. canada's prime minister, justin trudeau, has issued a new apology after fresh video emerged of him wearing blackface make—up at a student talent show. the images are especially problematic for a politician who has positioned himself as a champion of diversity and tolerance, facing a tight election campaign. the rugby world cup isjust hours from starting in tokyo, with japan the first asian country to host the competition. the world's top rugby nations are poised for the start of the cup, with the outcome as uncertain as any of the previous eight tournaments. now on bbc news: in a change

to the schedule, it's brexitcast. given that nothing is happening whatsoever, and these are all the rage. i hadn't heard about that. half not a day has passed that i haven't thought about my decision to hold that boat and the consequences of doing so. you and me both, dave. anyway, given that you may have just heard one or two things about this book, he has even been on this morning, hasn't he? lets this week

make brexitcast the