i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore, the headlines: a furious response from donald trump after claims the white house tried to cover up details of his phone call with ukraine's president. what these guys are doing, democrats, are doing to this country, is a disgrace and it shouldn't be allowed. there should be a way of stopping it. tackling britain's toxic politics. borisjohnson tries to cool tempers over brexit but refuses to apologise for his own language. i'm reged ahmad in london. also in the programme: security fears ahead of afg hanistan‘s presidential election. taliban threats, force thousands of polling centres to close. and france declares monday a national day of mourning

following the death of former president, jacques chirac. good morning. it's 8am in singapore, 1 in the morning in london and 8 in the evening in washington where white house officials stand accused of trying to bury evidence that president trump abused his power by asking a foreign leader to help him smear a political rival. the allegations came in a letter from a whistleblower, which lawmakers had been asking to see for weeks. they called mr trump's top intelligence officialjoseph maguire to explain to them why he had initially refused to share the information with them. our north america editor jon sopel reports.

joseph maguire is a man who's spent his career living in the shadows. not any more. the evidence that the acting director of national intelligence is giving today could have a critical bearing on the future of donald trump's presidency following that contested call with ukrainian leader. i have a feeling that your country is going to do fantastically well. donald trump, who met volodymyr zelensky at the un yesterday, insists that the call was perfect, even though he blatantly asks the ukrainian leader to investigate his main democratic political rival, joe biden. but today, a whistle—blower‘s letter was made public, and its allegations are damning. he says, "after an initial exchange of pleasa ntries, the president used the remainder of the call to advance his personal interests. "namely, he sought to pressure the ukrainian leader to take actions to help the president's 2020 re—election bid."

and he goes on, "white house officials told me they were directed by white house lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored for co—ordination, finalisation and distribution to cabinet level officials." and, citing white house officials, one other thing the whistle—blower says is, "this isn't the first time the administration has treated a transcript like this, not because it's a matter of national security, but because it's politically sensitive." and so to the evidence. would you agree that the whistle—blower complaint alleges serious wrongdoing by the president of the united states? the first question seemed to cause mr maguire discomfort. uh, the whistle—blower complaint involved the allegation of that, but it is not for me and the intelligence community to decide how the president conducts his foreign policy. the white house has sought to undermine the credibility of the whistle—blower. the intelligence chief, though, was noticeably not going there. i think the whistle—blower did the right thing. i think he followed the law every step of the way. the complaint states

that the white house tried to lock down all records of the call. and democrats are seizing on the whistle—blower‘s letter. this is a cover—up. donald trump's anger over attempts by democrats to impeach him is palpable. what these guys are doing, democrats are doing to this country, is a disgrace, and it shouldn't be allowed. there should be a way of stopping it. the president returned to the white house this afternoon after what's been a bruising few days in new york. events are moving at speed, and not in the direction donald trump would want. john sopel, bbc news, washington. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. the hong kong government has tried a new approach to diffuse tensions in the city by holding the first of a series of public consultation sessions. the televised event saw the city's leader carrie lam face a storm of difficult questions from 150

randomly chosen participants. china correspondent stephen mcdonell was there. outside the event, there are activists chanting and singing songs, calling for democratic reforms in hong kong. inside, a very different atmosphere. the situation much more polite but that doesn't mean the questions for carrie lam have been soft. hong kong's leader has been asked time and again why her administration would not consider having a genuinely independent enquiry into these allegations of police brutality. her response was that the existing police complaints procedure is there and that that is enough. she, however, welcomed the questions and said no matter how tough they are, at least this is dialogue. she says that talking is the way forward. another example, carrie lam was asked about this particular detention centre that some activists have been taken and allegations of brutality there. in response, she announced that no more protesters will be taken

to that particular detention centre. this, i guess, is her way of saying, see, the government is listening. and that's the purpose of these community consultation sessions. some have criticised this as a kind of televised theatre. some sort of political theatre that the government is using. however, others have said that at least it's a form of dialogue, even if it is flawed, that talking is better than fighting in the streets. this, we are told, is to be the first of many such meetings, a series of sessions where the community can put questions to these government leaders. we'lljust have to see how these meetings go and whether or not they can have the desired effect of taking some of the heat out of this crisis in hong kong which is now in its fourth month.

also making news today: iranian president hassan rouhani has challenged the us and others to provide evidence backing up their accusations that tehran carried out this month's attack on a saudi oilfacility. both the us and saudi arabia have blamed iran for the strikes on the kingdom's abqaiq plant and the khurais oilfield which knocked out half of saudi arabia's oil production. new south wales has become the last australian state, to decriminalise abortion. the bill overturns a ii9—year—old law, which opponents called archaic. previously, abortions were only allowed there, if a doctor said the pregnancy was a "serious risk" to a woman's health. us transport chiefs say boeing needs to pay more attention to how pilots react to emergencies in its safety assessment of the 737 max planes. the fleet has been grounded since

march following two fatal crashes. the safety board found that the crews in those crashes did not react in the way boeing assumed they would. more now on the escalating impeachment proceedings against president trump. in his testimony to congress earlier, mr trump's intelligence chief was asked why he did not refer the whisteblower complaint to congress immediately, with joseph maguire describing the case as unprecedented in response. i've been speaking to louise clark — the founder of an organisation that offers protection and advice to whistleblowers. it's unprecedented, he's absolutely right. but that doesn't mean you don't follow the law in what you do with the complaint that comes forward. and can you tell us a little bit about following that law, because there is a procedure in place with whistleblowers, isn't there? can you explain to us how it works?

it's a rather simple procedure. you go to the inspector general if you have a concern about a national security problem, violation of the law, et cetera. and then the inspector general for the director of national intelligence, then does an investigation, and if he determines that it's credible and urgent, then he is required by law to turn it over to the intelligence committees of the house and the senate. the president is calling this whistleblower as someone close to a spy. has this case exposed any issues that exist within that process you just described to us? would it have been betterfor this whistleblower to have gone to the press, for instance? had this person gone to the press, they might have been prosecuted for espionage because of other cases in our history, because it did contain

classified information. so the right place for them to go, the procedure is to go to the inspector general and the inspector general is to do the investigation, which it did. the british prime minister says tempers need to calm down in parliament, after the torrid scenes in the commons on wednesday night. borisjohnson says he "totally deplores any threats to anybody, particularly female mps," but has refused to apologise for his use of language. the speaker, john bercow, has called on all sides to tackle the toxic political culture. our political editor, laura kuenssberg reports, and a warning — it contains some very strong language. we will not betray the people who sent us here! subject to death threats and abuse every single day!

i've never heard such humbug in all my life! this is the language. you're a publicity whore! publicity whore, madam! this is it. politics has never been for faint hearts. this man is an idiot. we won't tolerate this, sorry. but there was poison in the air last night. use language that is respectable, whatever your views are. was your language in the commons yesterday appropriate? frustrated by a lack of brexit progress, the prime minister is happy to provoke. i totally deplore any threat to anybody, particularly female mps. and a lot of work is being done to stop that, and to give people the security they need. but i do think it's important that, in the house of commons, i should be able to talk about the surrender bill, the surrender act, in the way that i did. but there's fury from labour mps at that kind of talk. an encounter between a labour mp and the prime minister's advisor, dominic cummings, in parliament, was filmed by a member of the mp's team.

the mp, karl turner, said he had had death threats last night. in the commons itself, a sense of disbelief for a moment, the morning after the night before. yesterday, the house did itself no credit. to dismiss concerns from members about the death threats they receive, and to dismiss concerns that the language used by the prime minister is being repeated in those death threats, is reprehensible. as he prepared to gather his cabinet, the prime minister said tempers need to come down. but the chances of him are listening to this reprimand from a predecessor in number 10 are slim to none.

words such as saboteur, traitor, enemy, surrender, betrayal. which should have no place in our party, no place in our political discourse, nor in our politics, and nor, for that matter, in our wider society. but whatever the difficulty, whatever the distress, there is no intention in downing street, none at all, of pulling back from their overall tough approach. a belief, even, this is a pent—up conflict that must play out to clear the way for brexit. patting each other on the back, when there is so much frustration in every corner of the country, and this political village? the government playing tough appeals to some, but could cause other voters to take fright. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: against a backdrop of war and violence, afghans go to the polls on saturday to vote for the country's next president. also on the programme:

bye—bye boaty mcboatface, hello sir david attenborough. the uk's new polar research ship receives its official title. benjohnson, the fastest man on earth, is flying home to canada in disgrace. all the athletes should be clean going into the games. i'm just happy that justice is served. it is a simple fact that this morning, these people were in their homes. tonight, those homes have been burnt down by serbian soldiers and police. all the taliban positions along here have been strengthened, presumably in case the americans invade. it's no use having a secret service which cannot preserve its own secrets against the world, and so the british government has no option but to continue this action

even after any adverse judgement in australia. concorde have crossed the atlantic faster than any plane ever before, breaking the record by six minutes. welcome back. this is newsday on the bbc. thanks for staying with us. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm reged ahmad in london. our top stories: white house officials have been accused of trying to cover up evidence that president trump used his power to solicit foreign interference in next year's election. and after acrimonious scenes in britain's parliament, borisjohnson has tried to cool tempers — but he refused to apologise for his own controversial language. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. south china morning post carries

a front page photo of carrie lam. it describes her as an "embattled" leader submitting to "candid and critical" questions from a town hall audience — her first since anti—government protests began. the front page of the financial times shows a black and white image of the late former french presidentjacques chirac. while further down, donald trump and borisjohnson, both making headlines again — one accused of a cover up, the other of "inflaming hatred". the japan times leads on the bilateral trade deal between us and japan. prime minister abe says it's a win—win deal but trade experts expressed mixed reactions with some arguing the nation failed to secure strong commitment from the us. now we switch to afghanistan, where the country goes to the polls

on saturday to elect a new president. campaigning has been marred by deadly attacks while a peace deal with the taliban has been declared dead by president trump. our correspondent martin patience looks at the frontrunners in the race which sees two fierce rivals from the current unity government battle for the presidency. in the afghan capital, they're preparing for a vote that could make or break this country's fragile democracy. the two main candidates, abdullah abdullah and president ashraf ghani, once uneasy partners in government, now election rivals. theirfive years in power a time of soaring violence and poverty. the security forces here are on high alert. the threat of the taliban looms over this election. nawrooz and ahmed were seriously injured fighting the militants. the former soldiers have lost

faith in the government. translation: around 20 of my friends from the army have been killed or injured. the government doesn't support us or our families. i want to work for a different government. can you show me your injuries? ahmed was shot multiple times. he's had 19 operations and spent a year and a half in hospital. translation: there will be no future for afghanistan until the war is over. but it'll take time. after 18 years of war and three presidential votes, peace doesn't seem to be any closer. previous elections in afghanistan have been marred by massive corruption. the government here wants to use this vote to shore up its legitimacy.

but how much legitimacy can that election have when large parts of the country are under taliban control and many people are simply too scared to vote? there's fear on every street here. this is one of many armed guards standing watch outside a college in kabul. security is tight now after it was bombed by militants last year, killing 48 students. but today the hall was full. many here are first—time voters. you're going to vote, do you think it will change anything? deep down, of me, it's a great fear, great fear of peace talks, the negotiations, where will the country go, the direction, the changes that will be made after the americans have gotten out, what will happen? this is the big question, what then?

are you going to vote at this election? no. and why are you not going to vote at the election? because i hate all of them. because we have lots of bad things, that if ijust say now i will cry. many afghans despair for their country. they have war, not peace, and are unlikely to have a free and fair election. martin patience, bbc news, kabul. the former french president, jacques chirac, has died. he was 86. considered one of his country's most popular politicians, he led france for more than a decade between 1995 to 2007. he was best known internationally, for opposing the us—led invasion of iraq. his later years were, however, marred by scandal. from paris, lucy williamson looks back at his life. the bulldozer, the weathervane, the super liar.

political nicknames in political satire that could never dampen france's affection forjacques chirac. his long road to the presidency included two stints as prime minister, and almost two decades as paris mayor. his down—to—earth charm and talent for connection unleashed on everyone, from children to chancellors. bringing the country together proved harder. he wanted to heal france's social divisions, but his plans for reform were shelved after two million people came out in protest. he created new international divisions, too, refusing tojoin the us and britain in the 2003 invasion of iraq, a position that won him strong support at home. translation: my position is that france will vote against in any circumstances, because tonight there is no case to wage war to disarm iraq.

he also won widespread support for being the first french leader to publicly recognise france's role in the wartime deportation ofjews. in 2002, chirac won a second term landslide against far right leader jean—marie le pen, after left—wing voters were urged to hold their noses and vote for the crook rather than the fascist. his later years were dogged by ill—health, and a conviction for embezzlement during his time as paris mayor. through it all, jacques chirac has remained perhaps france's favourite leader, a president with a very human nature. a very human touch. remember boaty mcboatface? that was what the public voted to call the uk's new polar research ship. well, on thursday it was officially

named by the duke and duchess of cambridge — though it's actually now been called the sir david attenborough, after the government intervened. our science correspondent rebecca morelle reports. it's heading for the most remote parts of our planet, the uk's new polar ship. on board, the duke and duchess of cambridge. and sir david attenborough, who's lent the ship his name. it is my immense privilege and relief to welcome sir david attenborough, rather than boaty mcboatface. catherine did the honours. it gives me great pleasure to name this ship sir david attenborough, and may god bless her and all those who sail in her. for sir david, studying the poles is critical. ten or 20 years ago,

i could stand at the end of the glacier and say it's melting at such and such a rate. i wasn't talking about the half of it. the speed in which we now realise things are happening is terrifying. and so we know we're only going to deal with that if we know what the facts are, and that's what this ship will do. this is one of the most advanced ships ever built. it contains one million pieces of steel, it's covered in 60,000 litres of paint, and has 450,000 metres of cabling. it's set to transform our understanding of the rapidly changing poles. we'll be able to look at things like the atmosphere, what's going on in the ice, the surface ocean, the deep ocean, the mud at the bottom of the ocean, all in one go, and in that way we'll be able to tackle some of the really big global questions on environmental science. there to celebrate, a children's penguin parade. but soon the ship will be

seeing the real thing. after sea trials, it will be leaving for the antarctic next year. rebecca morelle, bbc news. a fitting name there. you have been watching newsday. i'm reged ahmad in london. and i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. don't go away. coming up: every traveller has their pet peeves — and one that continually grates is having to deal with a screaming baby or kid kicking the back of a seat during a flight. butjapan airlines is hoping to change all that. stay watching and we'll tell you how. eye look forward to it. —— i look. and before we go, we'd like to leave you with these pictures. look away now if you're bad with heights. one person who clearly isn't is this man, dani arnold, who has set a new free solo climbing speed record for climbing the cheema grande in the italian dolomite range. arnold climbed the mountain face in 46 minutes and 30 seconds, beating the previous best

by almost 19 minutes. the 35—year—old swiss now holds speed climbing records forfour of the six major european north mountain faces. that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. good morning. well, last week's high pressure and settled autumn sunshine — a distant memory. this week it's been very different, hasn't it? on monday, we saw some heavy rain, some areas seeing a months worth of rain injust a 24—hour period. through the middle part of the week it's quietened down a little, sunny spells and scattered showers. but there's more wet and windy weather to come through this weekend. here it is sitting out in the atlantic. and it's going to continue to push its way across the seas towards us for the second half of the weekend. ahead of it, circulating around, an area of low pressure, a scattering of showers. some of those quite heavy, possibly thundery, and some of them, as we go through the day today, merging together longer spells of rain. blustery winds, particularly through the south—west, driving those showers inland. there'll be some heavy ones through wales, north—west england, and northern ireland as well. the best of the drier, sunnier slot perhaps

reserved for scotland. temperatures a little subdued in comparison to of late. we're seeing highs 01:14 to 18 degrees the high. now, as we move out of friday into the start of the weekend, that low pressure will ease away. and we'll see a relatively quiet spell for a time. so the start of the weekend is not looking too bad. yes, we will have sunny spells and scattered showers, but there will be some drier interludes in between. quite a blustery feel still. and by end of the afternoon we'll see some wetter weather pushing into the south—west. now, the timings for this rain still subject to change. so if you do have outdoor plans this weekend you'll certainly need to keep abreast of the forecast. but that is likely to bring a spell of very wet weather and some windy weather with it as well.

so we could see 2—3 inches of rain. and at times, through the early hours of sunday morning, we're going to see strong, gusty winds, in excess of 40—50 mph in places. and as that low moves through, maybe for a time 60 mph across eastern england, close to the coast. but that low will move through, and then we start to see some drier weather coming through on sunday. however, the wind direction into the north is going to make it feel a little on the cool side as well. so top temperatures in scotland 13—15 degrees. further south and east we're looking at highs of 17 or 18. so just in case you haven't already got the message, it does look at the moment as though saturday will be the better of the two days in the weekend. sunny spells and a few showers. sunday will start off wet and windy but that rain will slowly ease away. and then monday into tuesday things are a little bit quieter, but the temperatures could be better for this time of year. take care.

i'm reged ahmad with bbc world news.

our top story. officials in washington have released the so—called ‘whistleblower report'. white house officials are accused of trying to cover up evidence that donald trump used his power to solicit foreign interference in next year's election. in a phone call, mr trump asked ukraine's president to investigate his main political rival, joe biden. borisjohnson says tempers need to come down after furious scenes in the uk parliament on wednesday. but despite strong criticism, the prime minister has refused to apologise for his own controversial language. and this video is trending on bbc.com: prince harry has praised the swedish campaigner, greta thunberg, and said the world will be a "very, very troubling" place if people continue to deny climate change. he was speaking during a visit to botswana on his tour