welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... a code red for humanity — the un headlines that humanity is changing the climate in unprecedented and sometimes irreversible ways. the unprecedented and sometimes irreversible ways.— irreversible ways. the world listen to but _ irreversible ways. the world listen to but didn't - irreversible ways. the world listen to but didn't hear. - irreversible ways. the world | listen to but didn't hear. the world listened but it did not act strongly enough. and as a result, climate change is a problem that is here now. nobody is safe and it's getting worse faster.— worse faster. raging wildfires in greece. — worse faster. raging wildfires in greece, one _ worse faster. raging wildfires in greece, one of— worse faster. raging wildfires in greece, one of many - in greece, one of many countries already feeling the impact. the impacts fanned by strong winds and rising

temperatures. and the world's smallest baby — more than a year later, this little girl finally leaves hospital here in singapore. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday. hello, and welcome. it's 7am in singapore, and midnight in london. global warming is accelerating, and human influence is to blame — that's the warning from a damning new report from the un and its secretary general. antonio guterres says the evidence cannot be denied — greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking the planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk. it's the most comprehensive climate change study ever, and is produced by hundreds of the world's top scientists from 66 countries.

the report warns that the global average temperature rise could reach or exceed 1.5 celsius in the next 20 years — ten years sooner than expected. it said rising temperatures will cause more frequent, extreme weather events across the globe. and warned that irreversible changes are already ongoing in melting ice sheets, rising sea levels and increasing acidification. but the report also stated that climate change could be slowed down, with rapid and sustained emission reductions. our science editor david shukman has this report. as the world gets hotter, it's becoming more threatening. the terrifying scenes of mass escape from greek islands, burning amid heatwaves, just as devastating fires also hit california. and the new report from the un climate panel says there will be much more of this to come.

with every additional amount of global warning... this major study concludes that temperatures are rising and that it's beyond doubt that human activity is driving them up. and all the warnings so far have been ignored. the world listened, but didn't hear. but it didn't act strongly enough. and as a result, climate change is a problem that is here now. nobody's safe, and it's getting worse faster. people in every region of the world are now feeling the impacts of more violent weather, fuelled by the gases that we release into the atmosphere. it is an absolute facti that human influence is warming the climate, and that's a very stark. reminder that it is our- activities which are changing the climate and affecting these extreme weather events. - and as the planet - continues to warm, these consequences just get worse. the scientists are more certain of all this because they've got

satellites spotting in minute detail how the planet is changing. and teams of researchers out in the toughest conditions, gathering data to help work out what's likely to come next. the big question is how much more the planet will heat up in the coming decades, so scientists explore different scenarios. in two of them, there are rapid and deep cuts in carbon emissions, and although the temperature does rise to potentially damaging levels, it'sjust about within the limits set by the international community. but in two other scenarios, which are actually much closer to where we're heading right now, the increases are much more dangerous. and in the most extreme, where emissionsjust keep growing, things become, well, catastrophic. but the message is that there is still time to act. in one sentence, this report shows that human action has got us to where we are,

but human action can also crucially decide how the future will look like. we are not doomed. there is a lot we can all do, like this project in cambridge to fit shades to keep the sun off the windows. this problem's only going to get worse with climate change. we're going to have, i fear, more and more heatwaves and they're going to be worse and worse, so that's why i think it makes sense to shade your windows now, start learning how to adapt. but some changes will be far tougher to deal with. the oceans will keep rising, we just don't know how much. the scientists are warning that there's going to be some rise in sea level really whatever we do. maybe half a metre by the end of the century if emissions are brought under control, or a metre if they aren't.

and that would be really devastating for millions of people on coastlines around the world. but they can't rule out a far bigger rise approaching two metres if the polar ice sheets collapse. the great ice sheets are already adding to the level of the sea, but this process may suddenly accelerate. scientists aren't sure, but the implications would be disastrous. india is now in the grip of flooding. higher seas would make it worse. the science has never been so clear that we can head off the worst of climate change, but not all of it, so we urgently need to get ready. david shukman, bbc news. i've been speaking to gavin schmidt, a senior adviser on climate for nasa, about the climate report. i asked him if the irreversible damage referred to in the report means it is too late to do anything. let me answer that very straightforwardly. no, it is not too late.

there are changes that will occur — there's an inertia in the system, it's out of balance and needs to get back into balance before things will start changing. so that means there will be continued sea—level rise and temperature warming. but what we can do is prevent it from getting much worse. the choices that we have, the amount of future warming is very, very much in our hands still. and if we take a strong approach to reducing emissions, we can avoid the worst—case scenarios. but if we decide to burn all the hydrocarbons that we find, then we would end up in a very much worse situation. so it'll never actually be too late. whatever happens, we can always be making better decisions with respect to the climate. well, that's encouraging, but this report will put

a lot more pressure on countries and governments. but have the big offenders, the big countries, honoured their pledges to do more? well, i can't say too much on that particular question. the pledges that people were making ourfor 2030, 2050. so it remains to be seen whether they will match those pledges. but what we can see is that there is the willingness at last for countries all around the world both to accept the goals of the paris agreement and to accept the science that underpins this report, and to propose their national contributions to reducing this problem. there is a learning process here. not everybody�*s plan will work. we should be able to learn from other environments, other countries, other jurisdictions on what works for them and what can be

translated to other countries. there's a lot of great ideas out there that range from, you know, utilities to insulation in buildings, manufacturing, transport, and there's a lot of great new technologies, new approaches — a lot of them have been accelerated by what's happened during the pandemic. the move towards more remote working, less commuting — all those things are actually quite positive from a climate standpoint, and also from an air pollution standpoint. gavin schmidt. greece is continuing to battle raging wildfires on the country's second largest island, evia. the fires have been burning for a week after the most severe heatwave in 30 years. the greek prime minister said they were facing a natural disaster of unprecedented dimensions and it was obvious the climate crisis was now knocking on the door of the entire planet.

more than 600 firefighters, some of them from the uk, are trying to control blazing forests which have destroyed homes and businesses. 0ur europe correspondent bethany bell reports from evia. fires rage on in evia. it's been a week and they're still not under control here. greece is experiencing its worst heatwave in decades. the searing temperatures and scorching winds mean these forests are like a tinderbox. the flames leave behind a ghostly landscape, white with ash. the fire swept through these hills, killing the trees, and this is what has been left behind — wreckage and destruction. the ashes are still smouldering. the ground beneath my feet is hot from the blaze. vangelis has come to check up on his family's farm.

it belongs to his son—in—law who's off fighting the fires. theirflock of 2,000 sheep and goats used to graze on this hillside, now all lost in this disaster. he says he's never experienced a fire like this before. translation: climate change, in my opinion, is hurting the entire planet, and especially these forests, which are flammable. the authorities certainly haven't handled this very well, but the fire was our destiny. no one could have put it out. dozens of wildfires have broken out across greece in recent days. the prime minister says climate change is to blame. translation: it is obvious that a climate crisis is now— knocking on the door of the entire planet, with fires that last weeks. this is a reason but it's not an excuse nor an alibi, and i will say it clearly — we may have done whatever is humanly possible,

but in many cases it did not appear to be enough in the unequal battle with nature. in some areas of evia, the fires only stopped when they reached the sea. many locals say they've been abandoned. they say the authorities haven't done enough to protect the forests and their homes. and with temperatures rising, there are fears of more wildfires like this in the years to come. bethany bell, bbc news, evia. meanwhile, a huge wildfire in northern california is now the second largest in the state's history with thousands of people forced out of their their homes. the dixie fire has been burning for more than 26 days, and more than 5,000 firefighters are trying to contain it. it has consumed hundreds of buildings and threatens thousands more. 11 other major wildfires are also burning in california. there's lots of information and articles on our website about the un climate change report, including what each

of us can do to reduce our own carbon footprint. chris morris of the bbc�*s reality check has made a short film about three things we could do to make a difference. it's very good, i washed it myself. take a look on bbc.com/news, or on the news app. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines... the department of defence in the united states plans to make vaccination against covid—i9 mandatory for all military personnel. the pentagon is seeking presidential authorisation to implement the proposal no later than mid—september. for more than a year—and—a—half, canada has barred visitors from its closest neighbour and largest trading partner, the united states. but as of today, fully vaccinated americans are now allowed cross the border and enter canada free of quarantine, which prompted massive queues at the border. london's iconic landmark tower bridge has been hit by a technicalfault,

leaving the bridge stuck while open, causing major traffic problems. the i27—year—old bridge was scheduled to open this afternoon to allow a large wooden ship through, but it became jammed. if you want to get in touch with me, i'm on twitter at @bbckarishma. i'm looking forward to hearing from you. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... how the games will go down in history, and can future 0lympic hosts learned from tokyo?

the big crowds became bigger as the time of as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a huge job of crowd control. idi amin, uganda's brutal former dictator, has died at the age of 80. he's being buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. two billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later when the sun set over the bay of bengal.

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. 0ur headlines... a code red for humanity. the un warns in a landmark report that human activity is changing the climate in unprecedented and sometimes irreversible ways. prince andrew is being sued in new york by virginia roberts giuffre, one ofjeffrey epstein�*s alleged victims. in a statement, ms giuffre said her civil suit lays out in detail how she was trafficked to prince andrew and sexually abused by him. prince andrew has vehemently denied all of the allegations against him. 0ur north america correspondent nada tawfik has more. this nada tawfik has more. civil lawsuit was filed under this civil lawsuit was filed under the child victims act. and it's a landmark new york state law that essentially opened up a one year window to sue over a sexual abuse allegation no matter how long ago they occurred.

and that one—year window expires in just a few days. so virginia roberts giuffre's lawyers say they have been in touch through letters with prince andrew's team but they've been completely ignored. they had suggested they would like to resolve this case through a negotiated settlement. they once again say they were ignored by prince andrew's team, and so decided to go forward with filing the civil lawsuit which alleges that virginia roberts giuffre, when she was just 17, was sexually trafficked byjeffrey epstein and sexually abused by prince andrew in london, new york, and the us virgin islands. now prince andrew has emphatically denied the allegations against him, but in a statement, virginia roberts giuffre said she did not come to this decision lightly.

she knows that that will subject her to further attacks, but she knew if she did not pursue this action, she would be letting others down around the world. so as i say, prince andrew has emphatically denied the allegations, but a new civil lawsuit filed in new york — just one more piece of what virginia roberts giuffre, the suits she's had in connection to her allegations. as the first olympic games to be held amid a pandemic, tokyo 2020 is being dubbed the "athlete's games" — where 0lympians focused on themselves and cared for fellow competitors, rather than playing to the crowds who weren't there. so as the athletes arrive home, was tokyo 2020 a game changer — not only for the japanese people, but for the world as a whole? and how much was beijing taking note as it looks ahead to the winter games in this "new normal" world? well, let's speak to

author and cultural historian ofjapan, dr chris harding, about this. hejoins us from surrey, england. great to have you on this morning. so much controversy around the pandemic games, as they were called by some at some point. now that it's all over, how do you think most japanese view to the event? i think they were also going to be that's always going to be a quite divisive games for people injapan. ithink quite divisive games for people injapan. i think for some, the fact the games went ahead at all was a sign that the japanese leaders had been quite weak under covid, and they were unable to resist foreign pressure onjapan from unable to resist foreign pressure on japan from the international pressure onjapan from the international olympic pressure on japan from the international olympic committee in this case. then again, tv viewership figures for the olympics injapan have been 0lympics injapan have been amazing. the metals hall has been the best ever forjapan, which gets people involved. and as we come to the end of the games now, it's notjust a

matter of relief for the japanese that everything seems to have gone 0k, japanese that everything seems to have gone ok, but a kind of confidence there because not many countries could've pulled off a games in these circumstances. and we just watched japan do exactly that. you know, japan did try to play up you know, japan did try to play up the theme of diversity, trying to advertise itself as a multiethnic place — that's not something we traditionally think ofjapan as. how much did that work for them? for think ofjapan as. how much did that work for them?— think ofjapan as. how much did that work for them? for me that was one of— that work for them? for me that was one of the _ that work for them? for me that was one of the missed _ was one of the missed opportunities of the games. i think one of the poignant moments in that closing ceremony showed dancers from the far north ofjapan, also dancers from the far south in okinawa — these are two 0kinawa — these are two communities that injapan have been historically marginalised. and there was this hope that in these 0lympics, they could promote japan internationally, but also promote man as a

desperate wantjapan as a multiethnic place. but there really wasn't much of that, i suppose if you have spectators going to japan, it's quite hard to do that. it still works perhaps inevitably, but it's a missed opportunity.- missed opportunity. looking ahead to the _ missed opportunity. looking ahead to the winter - missed opportunity. looking l ahead to the winter olympics, which of course china is hosting, how much of these themes of diversity do you think beijing will be hoping to emulate? i think beijing will be hoping to emulate? . ., �* emulate? i imagine that bei'ing ist in: emulate? i imagine that bei'ing is trying to fl emulate? i imagine that bei'ing is trying to avoid i emulate? i imagine that bei'ing is trying to avoid what i emulate? i imagine that beijing is trying to avoid what could - is trying to avoid what could be a double whammy at the beijing olympics in february next year. on one hand, a resurgence of covid, if things go badly over the winter, and also this threat of diplomatic boycotts. 0n the covid side of things come they've done is send a team and dashed into japan. so hopefully the fact of these 0lympics have gone well will mean beijing is able to

offer a safe and fun 0lympics next february. offer a safe and fun olympics next february.— offer a safe and fun olympics next february. chris harding, thank you _ next february. chris harding, thank you very _ next february. chris harding, thank you very much - next february. chris harding, thank you very much for - next february. chris harding, i thank you very much forjoining us on newsday. thank you very much for “oining us on newsday.�* a baby thought to be the world's smallest at birth has been discharged from a singapore hospital after 13 months of intensive treatment. kwek yu xuan was just 212 grams — the weight of an apple — when she was born, and measured 2a centimetres long. her mother gave birth to her by emergency c—section four months ahead of schedule, after she was diagnosed with pre—eclampsia — dangerously high blood pressure that can damage vital organs and be fatal for both mother and baby. yu xuan now weighs a much healthier 6.3 kg. dr zubair amir is the head and senior consultant of the dept of neo—natology at the singapore national university hospital. he told me how he and his team helped baby yu xuan to survive. so, when we had yu xuan on hand, of course

it was a surprise. and there wasn't any precedent of how to look after such a tiny baby. but our team worked very diligently, and we have our own protocol from previous experience with premature babies, so we implemented that. and we modified our protocol according to the baby's need. so this was a team effort, and we are very grateful to yu xuan's parents and to the community that, you know, trusted us to deliver care for her. and she's doing well. that is fantastic news. i have to ask, though, are there any specific health concerns that you're worried about for her future? yes, babies born at this gestational age and that tiny, you know, their lungs, their brain,

their heart continues to grow for many years. so, we have to keep monitoring her and provide her with the necessary treatment. we need to make sure she doesn't get into infections, because her lungs are really, you know, premature still. but we hope that, with time, she'll get better and better. what do you credit her survival to, when so many babies in similar situations sadly don't make it? so she was born, you know, very small, in terms of her weight, but she was in that, you know, the grey zone — what we call the borderline viability — at 2a weeks. so if you just take the gestational age criteria, she had about a 70% chance of survival. but of course, she was very, very small, so that put her

in an unfavorable condition. but she didn't have any infections, her mother was, apart from that high blood pressure, didn't suffer from diabetes or any other chronic diseases. so that helped us. that remarkable story of saving the baby. you've been watching newsday. 0f the baby. you've been watching newsday. of our top story: un experts have delivered their bleakest experts have delivered their blea kest claimant experts have delivered their bleakest claimant report yet, reporting that humans have changed the plan irreversibly. they say global warming is already causing extreme rains, heavy droughts and tropical cyclones. the un victor general said the use of fossil fuels must stop before it destroys the planet. there's much more for you on the bbc news website, thanks so much for

joining us. well, many of us have had to endure days of torrential showers, the grass is sodden. what has happened to august, we wonder? i've got some good news — tuesday is looking sunnier and warmer than of late across most of the uk, not absolutely everywhere. we still have a few showers in the forecast in the short term. here's the unsettled weather recently. you can see the clouds spiralling across the uk, but we've got a gap in the weather. it's called a ridge of high pressure. there's a low which is heading our way, as well, but this ridge is going to settle things down on tuesday. so, what's tuesday, 6am in the morning looking like? a lot of fine, bright, if not already sunny weather across the uk. i3 celsius in london, 10 celsius in glasgow, just the stray shower here and there. how about the rest of the morning into the afternoon?

so, lots of sunshine, especially across england and wales. in scotland, we are anticipating downpours and thunderstorms to form over the highlands, and they'll probably drift towards the east coast, and there's a chance of a few scattered showers just close to the north sea coasts and maybe i—2 other areas. but other than that, it is going to be a predominantly sunny day with scattered fairweather clouds, light winds, and very pleasant temperatures. i suspect they will probably hit around 2a celsius in 1—2 spots on tuesday. now, here's a look at wednesday's weather map. a low is approaching with its weather front — here's the low out there. the weather front is approaching western areas of the uk, so the weather will go downhill. 0ut towards the west on wednesday, you can see the rain sweeping in — this is the morning in northern ireland, western parts of scotland, and other western extremities also get the cloud and rain, and a bit of a breeze, too. but eastern areas in

the southeast should, at the very least, stay bright and actually quite warm in norwich, up to 2a — that's because, ahead of weather fronts, we quite often have a southerly wind that's strengthening the breeze — not strong, just a light summer breeze keeping those temperatures high enough. now, the weather front moves through the uk on thursday, but notice there's hardly any rain on the weather front, it's literallyjust a line of cloud. that will introduce just slightly fresher conditions to western areas here, but staying warm in the southeast, up to around 2a—25 celsius. but in the northwest, closer to the centre of the low pressure, it will stay wet and, at times, windy.

we will have the headlines and all the news stories at the top of the hour as newsday continues straight after a hard talk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. in pakistan, journalists who ask awkward questions of people in power need to watch their backs. in the last year, there have been a string of attacks on reporters. the perpetrators remain unknown and unpunished. the government insists pakistan is a bastion of media freedom.

well, my guest is hamid mir, a high profile columnist and tv