you are watching newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: india's top judges accuse the authorities of passing the buck and failing to tackle delhi's toxic smog. and turkey says it's captured the elder sister of abu bakr al—baghdadi, leader of the islamic state group killed in a us raid. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme: with just hours before the melbourne cup race, an animal abuse scandal shocks many in australia. and in politically troubled times, how do cartoonists draw their inspiration? voiceover: live from our studios in london and singapore,

this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 9am in singapore, 1am in london and 6:30am in delhi, where millions of people are still being urged to stay indoors because of toxic smog. state governments have been accused of failing to take action to tackle the city's air pollution. the supreme court said authorities were only interested in "gimmicks", rather than concrete measures. our south asia correspondent, rajini vaidyanatha has more. so our pollution meter has a reading of around 300 right now. now, that is way lower than it was in the last 2a hours or so, but it is still staggeringly high, way above what is considered safe according to the world health organization.

now, as delhi continues to be in a state of public health emergency, the government here is trying to mitigate some of the higher levels of pollution. it introduced on monday what is known as its odd—even scheme. now, that means that cars with an even license plate can only drive on even dates, and the same for odd license plates on odd days. the aim of that is to reduce the number of private vehicles on the roads, and therefore the emissions. now, it isn'tjust vehicle emissions that contribute to these extraordinary levels of pollution. it's also unchecked pollution from industries and factories, but also crucially right now, farmers in nearby states burning crop stubble, which is contributing to those overall emissions. just to put this all into context, i was talking to a doctor earlier today who said that every breath you take in delhi amounts to breathing in poison.

we'll be coming back to india's pollution problem a little later here on newsday. now to another big story. turkey has announced it has captured the sister of abu bakr al—baghdadi, the sister of abu bakr al—baghdadi, the leader of the islamic state group who died in syria a week ago during a us rate. her daughter—in—law has also been detained. with more here's michael pregent, senior fellow from the hudson institute and a former intelligence officer. there is not a lot of detail, but what is important is where she was captured. this town. this is a smuggling out for isis women, isis took the territory in 2013. though there was known intelligence and information that there was isis enemies in the area. it is now under

control of the turkish forces. explains was the significance than that she was in this particular location? it shows this is a place that isis has been comfortable with since 2013. it will be interesting to see what the circus officials can glean from the capture of documents with her and interrogations of her and her family members. with her and interrogations of her and herfamily members. she is the 65—year—old sister of abu bakr al—baghdadi, she would know, how long it has been since she saw him and hopefully she can get american intelligence officers in there as well to ask questions. turkey is hoping to gather a lot of intelligence from her. realistically, how much do you think she knows? i don't know. i don't think she would be privy to any imminent attack plans, but she might know smuggling rout is, she might know smuggling rout is, she might

know networks that baghdadi trusted, that people trusted. networks in iraq that facilitated her and her family's travel. so this should give allied intelligence officers a view into the isis networks in how they travelled, moved family networks and who they trusted. but i don't think she would be able to tell us if there is an imminent attack or plans, but we should still ask questions. tell us about the significance of turkey capturing her? well, to me, i don't want to sound sceptical but i think turkish in cell officers would have known that isis wives were in this area. this was a place they had been since 2013. i think it looks good for the turkish reputation to find the sister of isis after the raid where baghdadi was killed does make the sister of baghdadi, and now finding

her on the syrian— turkish border. it makes turkey look like they are more part of this effort to decapitate isis and defend the organisation as opposed to facilitating travel into syria, as turkey has done since 2013. that story is developing and we are continuing to monitor the story. also making news today: there have been more clashes between police and protesters in hong kong. china's president xijinping met hong kong leader carrie lam in shanghai earlier to discuss the months of unrest. he said beijing continues to have confidence in her. carrie lam told him stopping violence and restoring order is her top priority. internet access in baghdad and much of iraq has been cut off

as the country experiences a wave of anti—government protests. authorities in the iraqi capital, are denying reports of mass casualties during the latest clashes but medical sources say at least four people wer killed. —— were. more than 250 people have died since protests began in baghdad and other cities last month. vietnamese officials have arrived in britain to help identify the bodies of 39 migrants found in a lorry container nearly two weeks ago. the victims are all thought to be from vietnam, where police arrested eight people in connection with the case over the weekend. protests in chile have entered a third week despite the government offering a raft of economic reforms. demonstrators are demanding that the president resign because of income inquality. the wave of civil unrest that has so far claimed 20 lives. the trump administration has formally notified the un that it intends to withdraw the us

from the paris climate change agreement. it is the first formal step in a process that will take a year to effect. it follows a pledge previously made by donald trump. british mps have elected a new speaker of the house of commons to replace the high—profile former holder of the post, john bercow. it's sir lindsay hoyle, who has been a deputy speaker. here's the tradition of him being reluctantly dragged to the speakers chair. it's thought he'll be less controversial than his predecessor. and this is baby sea turtle finally making its way back home. it's five—year—old mara, who was washed ashore in ireland during a storm. after staff at a marine park nursed her back to health, she was finally ready to go back to the canary islands off the coast of morocco. she headed to this special check—in desk at cork airport, then joined her fellow passengers. we wish her a safe return home. in australia they call it "the race

that stops a nation", but much of the attention on this year's melbourne cup will be for all the wrong reasons. the annual horseracing event is set to take place in a few hours' time amid an animal abuse scandal that's shocked many. earlier, i spoke tojo mckinnon, a horseracing journalist and broadcaster in melbourne. i don't think there's any doubt that welfare has been a top—of—mind issue for the australian racing and breeding industry for quite a number of years now, but the recent abc report has certainly sparked a lot of momentum around the need to build a stronger strategy around equine welfare, longer—term. the report shocked the entire nation. the images that were seen disturbed me, along with thousands of others, both involved within the industry and outside of it. so it's been a huge talking point in recent weeks, especially in the lead—up to today's melbourne cup. that's right, and i mean,

a lot of the investigation centred around quite healthy racehorses that were heading to the abattoir, that were being killed. now, we know that there's been money pledged by the authorities for horse retirement programmes, but are they doing enough? that is the question, and it's sparked a lot of reaction, but also a proactive attitude from the peak racing bodies here in australia. 0n the eve of melbourne cup week, the chairman of the victoria racing club announced that they would kickstart an equine welfare fund by chipping in $1 million straightaway. they also announced that 10% of all ticket sales across this week at flemington would be donated towards that fund, and annually, 5% would be taken off their membership fees to contribute to this fund. at the very same time, the state body, racing victoria, announced that it would contribute $115 million to fast—track equine welfare strategy.

so this shocking abc report has brought about a much—needed proactive response. the melbourne cup is due to start in the next few hours. democrats have moved their impeachment inquiry into the next phase with the release of the first transcripts from interviews held behind closed doors. the transcripts show former diplomats believed president trump's lawyer, rudy giuliani, was in effect running a shadow foreign policy on ukraine. the former us ambassador to ukraine told the inquiry that she was advised to tweet remarks praising the president in order to save herjob. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes has been following developments for us. she was saying that she in effect felt intimidated by the way that the president had been talking about her during that now famous telephone conversation that he had

with the president of ukraine back injuly — that he said she was bad news, and that she was going to go through some things. not specific, but she read that as an intimidating comment, and that she was very concerned about it. she also told the committee that she had been warned by a ukrainian official to watch her back. this is a woman who clearly felt very concerned. she was clearly very worried about her position. and tell us a little bit more about this accusation that rudy giuliani was creating this kind of back — a second, a sort of behind—the—scenes way of running the situation with ukraine. yes, this is essentially a description of a behind—the—scenes policy, not the public policy, but the behind—the—scenes policy towards ukraine that rudy giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, seemed to be in charge of. and the implication from this

witness, and according to reports, from others as well, is that essentially what the administration was doing was trying to change the scenario in terms of working with ukraine, possibly so that future relations could include attempts to get information that could politically help the president of the united states. of course, that goes to the very heart of the impeachment investigation. yes, absolutely. and peter, briefly, if you could, the significance of four us officials not showing up to testify? once again, we have political appointees inside the white house refusing to accept an invitation to testify at the moment. now, potentially in the future, they could be forced to testify, if they receive a legal demand that they should do so. the democrats are already saying that, once again, this is an attempt to obstruct

their investigation. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the thai folk band claiming asylum in france — they say it's too dangerous for them to return home. also on newsday, we speak to a political cartoonist to find out how he captures the main events of the day in art form. growl the israeli prime minister, yitzhak rabin, the architect of the middle east peace process, has been assassinated. a 27—year—old jewish man has been arrested, and an extremistjewish organisation has claimed responsibility for the killing. at polling booths throughout the country, they voted on a historic day for australia.

as the results came in, it was clear. the monarchy would survive. of the american hostages, there was no sign. they are being held somewhere inside the compound, and student leaders have threatened that should the americans attempt rescue, they will all die. this mission has surpassed all expectations. voyageri is now the most distant man—made object anywhere in the universe, and itjust seems to keep on going. tonight, we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms, or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: india's top court accuses state governments of failing to take real

action to tackle delhi's toxic smog. turkey says it's captured the elder sister of abu bakr al—baghdadi — leader of the islamic state group killed in a us raid. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the front page of the japan times reports on the talks between south korea and japan over compensation for past war crimes. the article says prime minister abe wants seoul to stick to an accord agreed between the two countries in 1965. the philippine star front page says the government there does not require foreign help in recovering from a recent earthquake in mindanao. it also covers the poor attendence at this weekend's asean—us summit after donald trump pulled out, saying only three of the ten leaders took part. and the straits times leads on singapore banning electric scooters on footpaths, after a rise in accidents. it reports that anyone caught breaking the new rule could face a fine of up to 2000 singapore dollars or a jail sentence of up

to three months. more now on our top story the deadly smog affecting delhi. i've been speaking to natasha mudhar, the founder of ‘the world we want‘, an organisation that aims to promote the un's sustainable development goals. i think by now, especially when you look at the sustainable development goals, i think we have always been ambitious about the project, ambitious about popularising the goals, creating that household chapter, where everybody knows that there is this to list that has been

created for people and planets that you need to abide to. there needs to be certain accountability. that needs to precipitate across different sectors, government, corporate, media talent, ngos, mass markets. so when we see certain emergencies, climate emergencies like we are seeing in new delhi right now, it makes you wonder why enough is not being done to tackle this. when the issue of climate change is so popular, especially in today's day and age. so what are these barriers we are facing? why are governments, why are the media, why are people just not managing to deal with this? i thinkjust as there is not a single institution in the world that can solve the world's problem, i think we also have to remember it is not a single institution that is the cause and effect of those problems as well. there needs to be a collaborative effort. so while they will be a lot of media attention around the issues,

government activism, certain policies being in place as well, you need to have a cross collaborative effort to really see change. lots of the change that we are looking out, as well, is behavioural. and any behavioural —related change takes time. so there is a lot of social transformation that needs to be done on the ground to really feel the impact. but when we had the situation say, with the focus very much on india at the moment, given just about the pollution is, when you have farmers who continue to burn their crops, what can you do on the ground straightaway? —— just how bad the pollution is. i've, when you look at the measures that were put in place even on monday, the government has 300 teams on the ground to actively pursue any farmers, to enforce restrictions on them, if they are

illegally burning their land, as an example, right through to, you know, even various different schemes to limit the number of cars on the roads as well. so things are being done. but a lot of the pollution that we are seeing in delhi at the moment is quite seasonal. so any sort of measures that are put in place shouldn't be seasonal, but they need to be sustained, again, if you want to create but long—term action. this week singapore welcomes the world's top literary talent as it hosts its annual international writer's festival. the political cartoonist chris riddell, who works for the observer newspaper in britain, is taking part. her says with president trump and brexit there's never been a better time for his profession. i am never without something to characterise in my cartons. what do you think a good political cartoon does, that perhaps other mediums can't? it is a visual medium, isn't it? so we can use metaphor. i often think of political cartoonists, as a visual image, i think we are sort of like koi carp and

we wait for politicians to drop soundbites into our pool, and then we'll go for them. so obviously when boris talks about being dead in a ditch if we don't leave on october 31, we think, right, we can draw boris dead in a ditch in perpetuity. we are seeing some of your cartoons now on the screen. 0bviously drawing political cartoons is not an easy art. we know there have been issues in the past, the likes of cartoonists like her quest to guard who got into trouble for his depiction of the prophet mohammed, he gets to threats and is under protection now. is there ever a line you need to cross, or perhaps a line that you can push the envelope a bit too hard?

i think essentially, for me, it is about sort of telling truth to power in some sense. but it is also about maybe punching up rather than down. and i think for me, since around religion, personal conscience, that is something i respect. what i don't respect our politicians who are just to be pragmatic and then sort of go along and do other things. you know, that sort of dual standards that we sometimes get in public life. and i think myjob sometimes is tojust point a visual finger and say, actually, i think you will find that wasn't a good idea. speaking of pointing visual fingers, you have been working on something since you have been in the studio. do you want to hold up what you have been working on? i have been drawing a presenter, i've got to say. excellent. what does it say? pioneer of the stylish grey look. i'm very impressed them actually.

you're going to have to put that picture up on social media, sharanjit. claiming it's dangerous for them to return home. the band's lyrics criticise the monarchy and the military. they fled to neighbouring laos in 2014 after the military coup. they've faced death threats. bbc thai has been following the band's journey in exile.

you have been watching newsday. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. 0therwise otherwise known as the pioneer of the stylish grey look. chris drew this, iam rather unusual with the stylish grey look. chris drew this, i am rather unusual with grey hairon tv this, i am rather unusual with grey hair on tv apparently. promise me that he will put that picture up on social media so we can have a look at it. it's really nice. lots more coming up. coming up — uber skids on its latest results. the ride hailing firm chalked up more than a billion dollars in losses for the latest quarter, but promised it would be profitable, by the end of 2021.

hello there. it's been a pretty unsettled start to november. quite a bit of rainfall in places. over the next few days what we'll notice is a change in temperature. it's going to turn much cooler with those winds starting to come down from the north, right from the arctic. there'll also be further rain at times through the week. now, early on tuesday, we start off with quite a bit of cloud across england and wales on early tuesday, most of the showers across the north—east corner. turning dry with clear spells across western scotland and northern ireland, so it will be quite chilly here. but further south and east, where we also have lighter winds, we will see temperatures around 7 or 8 degrees and there could be a few mist and fog patches around to start tuesday.

0ur area of low pressure will be retreating southeastwards into the near continent, allowing those winds to come down from the north. you can see isobars fairly close together so it will be breezy across northern and western areas. you can see that arctic air, the blue colour, seeping south and sitting across the northern half of the country during the day. tuesday morning, we start off with drier weather across scotland and northern ireland. staying rather cloudy across central and eastern parts of england, a few showers around. but it will also be quite windy as well across the north and the west. as i mentioned earlier, with those isobars close together, single—figure values in the north, just about double figures in the south, 10—12 degrees. through tuesday night, we'll start to see those clear skies pushing their way southwards and eastwards with most of the showers dying out. those temperatures will fall away, certainly a chilly night to come across northern and western areas, temperatures in towns and cities hovering around freezing to 2 degrees. a chilly start to wednesday. there will be some frost around. a little bit of mist and fog too.

looking out west, we've got the next weather system working its way in through wednesday. that will introduce thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain. but we start off on a chilly note with frost and sunshine across central and eastern areas. any mist and fog will clear away through the morning, then we'll start to see the thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain pushing into western areas. hazier as that frontal system continues to work in from the west. a chilly day to come for all. 6 or 7 degrees in the north, 9 or just about 10 across the south. as we head into thursday and into friday we hold onto that chilly feeling, you can see those blue colours and there will tend to be more rain at times, although for friday it is looking a bit drier. we will have some rain about on thursday, it will be quite breezy, too. on friday, a brief ridge of high pressure brings us some dry conditions with some sunshine.

this is bbc world news. iam i am kasia madera. india's top court has accused state governments of failing to tackle delhi's toxic smog. the supreme court said the authorities were only interested in "gimmicks", rather than concrete measures. delhi has responded by launching a car rationing system. turkey says it's captured the elder sister of abu bakr al—baghdadi — leader of the islamic state group who was killed in a us raid last month. this story is trending online, video of farmers celebrating the rain in australia. farmers have been particularly badly hurt. the country is seeing one of its longest dry spells. but a series of rainstorms in new south wales has brought much—needed relief to parched lands. the government is wanting it is not enough to tackle the drought. that's all.