this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america, or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: we're live in sydney, where students havejoined office workers in a one—day strike. trudeau under pressure. the canadian prime minister apologises again as more images emerge of him in blackface makeup. it is 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. the surgery that doesn't involve surgeons. the nurse in ethiopia who is saving lives without the usual 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 the 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, of course, and the government's environmental policies. all this three days before the un climate summit in new york and those strikes this year, 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 signed up to strike in solidarity with the young activists.

we will be speaking to our correspondent here in just a few moments. but we will come back to him injusta moments. but we will come back to him injust a moment, moments. but we will come back to him injusta moment, i moments. but we will come back to him injust a moment, ithink. 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. our 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 obama 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 have 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 had the opportunity to offer a damning assessment of the actions of boris johnson in 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. buckingham palace has let it be known there is royal displeasure

at the revelation from former prime minister david cameron that he sought the queen's help during the scottish independence referendum campaign. in a bbc documentary, mr cameron said in 2014 he asked if the queen could intervene because he was concerned scotland was going to vote for independence. the queen later urged people to think very carefully about the future. here's mr cameron. i remember conversations i had with my private secretary and he had with the queen's private secretary and i had with the queen's private secretary. not asking for anything that would be in any way improper or unconstitutional, butjust a raising of the eyebrow, even, you know, a quarter of an inch, we thought would make a difference. 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 know, you look out and the weather is bad, oh, let me get home. because essentially you'll 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.

for many, snakebite is a daily threat, and can cause death or disability. but they can be treated, and so—called antivenom is key to tackling the problem. but it isn't always effective. our global health correspondent tulip mazumdar has this report from east africa's first snakebite research facility in kenya. this is geofray, one of kenya's leading snake handlers, and this is the green mamba he is about extract venom from. good. the toxins in this deadly liquid are the very same that are used to create the antidotes for some snakebites. it's such a beautiful snake, isn't it? right. but this one can kill you quite quickly. yes, a little bit of this venom can kill you within an hour. different types of snakebites from different areas in the world need different types

of antivenoms to treat them. so this particular venom mixture is from vipers and puff adder. scientists here are using venom from poisonous kenyan snakes to try and develop new, more effective treatments for snakebite victims in sub—saharan africa. the antivenoms that we currently have are mostly produced from venom from indian snakes, and so they don't work as effective in our population here. george and his team of scientists in nairobi are working at a nearby farm in their hunt for better antivenoms. as well as trying to develop treatments for this region, they are also trying to come up with an antivenom that would work on many different snakebites from different parts of the world. 38.1 temperature. he is doing fine. today, they are looking at how cows are reacting to a weakened cocktail of snake toxins. these cows were injected with snake

venom a few days ago. vets here say it doesn't harm the animals, but it does trigger an immune response. researchers then harvest the antibodies fighting against the venom from the blood of these animals, and they are used to develop new antivenoms in humans. they're looking good, aren't they? if their work here is a success, this will be the first antivenom of its kind, protecting against 12 different groups of snakes in both sub—saharan africa and south asia. it is extremely early days, but it is hoped less of the drug would be needed, so it would be more affordable too. so we can think red spitting cobra, black mamba. .. meanwhile, geofray and nick are on the hunt for more snakes to take back to the nairobi research centre. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the rugby world cup gets under way injapan later, in what is considered the most open tournament for years.

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 has been 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 world 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. amazon chief executivejeff bezos has claimed he can make the company carbon neutral and meet the goals of the paris climate agreement by 2040. he may have some ground to make up — at least one and a half thousand amazon employees have suggested

they willjoin the global climate walkout protests on friday. they are unhappy with the company's environmental record. this from our tech reporter dave lee. if amazon had hoped thursday's announcement would dampen the energy of the walkout, that doesn't seem to have been the case. 0rganisers have told me that firm has pledged to reach the spirit of the agreement and it is proof that their concerns are being listened to and they feel invigorated but in our view, it doesn't go far enough. one of the organisers of the walkout is emily cunningham, a user experience designer from amazon in seattle and says amazon's impact on climate change goes well beyond its own goals and sustainability. if amazon truly wants to be a climate leader, we absolutely cannot be in bed with fossil fuel companies. currently we are selling our artificial intelligence to big oil and gas to help them extract oil more quickly and that's the exact opposite of what we need right now. scientists say absolutely, to avert catastrophic warming, we must keep fossil fuels in the ground. 0rganisers say they hope that up to 1700 amazon workers will choose to walk out and said they don't expect there to be any personal repercussions from amazon about their decision. dave lee, bbc news in san francisco.

elizabeth sturcken is a managing director at the environmental defense fund advocacy group. one of the organisation's aims is to curb carbon emissions globally. i know that it is an advocacy group and one of your aims is to curb carbon emissions globally. it is clear that not all amazon employees are convinced by jeff clear that not all amazon employees are convinced byjeff bezos‘s pledge. why are we making a fuss about amazon? this is amazing. it is impressive. and it is about time. amazon has been behind the curb on this and the fact that they are stepping up now in a really remarkable way is really to be taken note of. now the hard work starts. the implementation and the years of work it will take to achieve the

goals. and i guess amazon has clout. it could get heard on capitol hill ina way it could get heard on capitol hill in a way that other companies can't? that is a really important point. what they are talking about doing in terms of renewable energy, electric vehicles, is super impressive. but it is ironic that they are talking about rolling out 100,000 electric vehicles on the day the trump administration is rolling back clean vehicle laws. so, the time is now and true leadership is stepping up and true leadership is stepping up and engaging in the national political dialogue on climate. how does a company on the scale of amazon go carbon neutral? well, i think the way they are going to have to do it is the way that they are talking about in terms of renewables, electric vehicles, and the other key piece i think for sure

will be offsets and i think there is absolutely nothing wrong with offsets if they are high—quality, verifiable, real, permanent emissions reductions and it can be --it emissions reductions and it can be ——it can really be a great source of funding or some emissions reductions that have to happen right now. the one thing that is clearly missing and what amazon is doing in addition to policy advocacy, though, is engaging on all of the products that they sell and engaging their supply chain to make sure that the products they sell are truly sustainable and carbon neutral. they sell billions of dollars worth of private label brands. everything from tutors to dishes. they could have those be top—of—the—line sustainability green and that is a real markup — make a real mark of leadership that they should be striving for. briefly, if you could, it is going to be crucial to engage amazon employees? element

thatis to engage amazon employees? element that is right because i find it inspiring that the amazon employees have driven this change was not —— thatis have driven this change was not —— that is right. i think it is really smart business on the part of amazon because those climate strikers that you are talking about, the youth that are acting out tomorrow, they are amazon's future customers so this is just good are amazon's future customers so this isjust good business are amazon's future customers so this is just good business all the way around. elizabeth sturcken from the environmental defence fund, thank you very much. the rugby world cup gets under way later in tokyo, the first time the tournament is being hosted by an asian nation. it's only four years since japan's team, the brave 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. i've been speaking to our correspondent in tokyo, mariko 0i, and i asked her, why is the tournament taking place in japan. i guess the question is why not

because the aim is to spread the popularity of this sport 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. from the japanese point of view, i think it is good practice ahead of the tokyo 0lympics next summer. but of course, baseball, foot bowl, sumo, i'm a lot more popular than rugby so there we re more popular than rugby so there were concerns about ticket sales —— football. but i think it is fair to say that the locals are quite excited about it. do they 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. i think the forecast is for half a million visitors in the six weeks? and not just in the big cities such as tokyo and a sucker. would you say they are ready? well, that has 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. do not hug, don't bring this, don't bring that, don't get into trouble. so there have been some concerns about that that also the sentient dahsa sensitive issues of tattoos which many rugby players have but here injapan they are associated with organised crime. there have been some concerns about whether players will cover them up on some of the players reportedly have been covering them up outside when they are not playing them —— not playing in the stadium. despite all of those sensitive issues, i

think a lot of people are excited about this tournament and local support will depend on how the home tea m support will depend on how the home team does. you talked about the shock be over south africa back in 20 for dean and a lot of people are hoping that the japanese team will at least get to the quarter—finals. the winner of the 2019 make mercury make prize has been announced and it has gone to the english rapper. his album has been called the boldest to ship up album in a generation. here is the moment days one and brought his mother on stage. i want to firstly thank god. i want to invite my mother upon stage. cheering and applause. there is a clip up our

website when he brought a fan up onto the stage. thank you for 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're likely to be one of the largest environmental demonstrations in history. canada's prime minister, justin trudeau, has issued a new apology after fresh images emerged of him wearing blackface make—up at a student talent show. the pictures 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.