welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: more than a0 people are dead, after record rainfall causes flash flooding across the north—east of america. a british—born member of the islamic state group pleads guilty to charges of conspiring to murder american hostages in syria. in afghanistan, a new normal, with the taliban setting up a government, as those who still want to get out await their future. so many afghans wondering, worrying, what kind of new government will emerge with all of its rules and regulation?

many others asking ever so anxiously, how can they escape? japan is the first nation to host the paralympic games twice, but what's it like to be a disabled person living there? and, it's abba's first album of new material for a0 years, backed up by a series of virtual concerts. it's 8:00 in the morning in singapore and 8:00 in the evening in new york, where the tail end of hurricane ida caused major flooding in the north—east of the us on wednesday night. more than a0 people were killed

in the flash floods. the governors of new york and newjersey have declared states of emergency, and president biden has promised federal aid. our correspondent nada tawfik is in newjersey. this has been a day filled with disbelief and despair. it was not long ago that people watched in shock as hurricane ida devastated louisiana, never anticipating that they would be next, and there really was no warning that the storm's remnants would be this destructive, this life—threatening. throughout the day the death toll has climbed, the youngest victim just two years old. cascading waterfalls rushed through the platform is down to the tracks of new york city subway. the sudden deluge from ida's move up north shutdown the network and didn't stop there. a state of emergency was called as the city became paralysed by record—breaking rain and flash flooding. turning wide boulevards quickly into waterways.

motorists and a few out working despite the obstacles, waded through the water to get home. officials warned residents to stay indoors but across new york houses were no longer a place of safe. some were saved from the rising waters on their doorsteps. we from the rising waters on their doorsteps-_ from the rising waters on their doorstes. ~ ., ., ., . doorsteps. we are organic come toaether doorsteps. we are organic come together and — doorsteps. we are organic come together and we _ doorsteps. we are organic come together and we are _ doorsteps. we are organic come together and we are going - doorsteps. we are organic come together and we are going to . together and we are going to figure out a solution and go from there. it figure out a solution and go from there.— figure out a solution and go from there. it was the same sto in from there. it was the same story in philadelphia, - from there. it was the same story in philadelphia, wherej story in philadelphia, where there was no telling where the river ended. rescuers went door—to—door by boat, helping people escape who had taken shelter in the upperfloors of their homes and on their rooves. others weren't so lucky and officials are still discovering the death toll. after a year of

extreme climate events that have shocked the nation, a message from the president. from the fires to the flash floods, it is yet another reminder that these extreme storms and the climate crisis are here. we need to do this better prepared. we need to act. , , ., ., better prepared. we need to act. ., , better prepared. we need to act. ., ., , act. this storm for many is a wake-up _ act. this storm for many is a wake-up call— act. this storm for many is a wake-up call that _ act. this storm for many is a wake-up call that nowhere l act. this storm for many is a | wake-up call that nowhere is wake—up call that nowhere is safe from extreme weather. powerful tornadoes obliterated multiple homes in newjersey. with the devastating impact of these events coming into view, it does feel like this is one of the greatest challenges of this generation. alex etling is a new york resident who was caught up in the storms when water started gushing through the ceiling of a subway station. he spoke to me a little earlier. i was on my way home and everything seemed relatively normal. as for as the subway system

in the operation is going. as soon as the doors opened to my subway stop, i immediately heard this rush of water that sounded like niagara falls, it sounded like a natural waterfall and i turned around and knowsjust an enormous crush of water. what's the situation on the ground today? how has that changed? are things a little bit better? in our neighbourhood in particular in bushwick in brooklyn, it was almost eerily calm today. the weather outside is beautiful at the moment, which is very jarring after last night. i know there was a volunteer community clean—up working in the neighbourhood

today and everyone was pitching in and one of the streets about two blocks away, they had water that looked way deeper, chest deep, and cars are inundated and today we walked down there and there was still a bit of mud but other than that, no water left and everything was pretty cleaned up, unsurprisingly. —— was pretty cleaned up, surprisingly. we see the images and meteorologists are calling this a once in a half a century event. you're a long time new york resident. do you think new york city's infrastructure was ready for this weather? i think new york learned a lot during hurricane sandy and i think a strength for hurricane was never something i expected but we learned a little bit each

time and i think that we have to fortify our infrastructure and invest in the most meaningful way if we are going to weather the next storm. alex there who was caught up in those storms when they happened. an alleged member of the notorious isis group that were dubbed �*the beatles' because of their british accents has just plead guilty in a hearing in a us court. alexanda kotey, originally from the uk, had been charged with conspiring to torture and behead hostages in syria. for more, i spoke with our correspondent in washington nomia iqbal. alexanda kotey was part of a very notorious isis sale that was nicknamed the beatles because of their english accent and this was a notorious group accused of torturing and beheading the terms in syria. some of the names that people might mention who were the dems were american journalists james

foley and stevens they were also accused of killing the british taxi driver from greater manchester, he had gone there as a aid worker and another british man called david haynes, also an aid worker. in court today, we knew that this was coming, we saw the court document that said he was going to change his plea. he has pleaded guilty to those charges of conspiring to torture and be had for. i think ee change basically suggests that he is cooperating with the authorities. there is another man, his co— accuser who is on trial as well, we have no indication yet what his plea deal is or if he indeed plans to change it.— deal is or if he indeed plans to chance it. ~ ., ., , to change it. what does he face in terms of _ to change it. what does he face in terms of a — to change it. what does he face in terms of a punishment - to change it. what does he face in terms of a punishment now. in terms of a punishment now that he has pleaded guilty? what are the possible penalties that he is facing? we

what are the possible penalties that he is facing?— that he is facing? we know for sure that he _ that he is facing? we know for sure that he won't _ that he is facing? we know for sure that he won't face - that he is facing? we know for sure that he won't face the - sure that he won't face the death penalty and neither will his co— accuser, and that is because that was part of the agreement to extradite them both, they are british nationals, the uk does not agree with the death penalty, it is not part of the uk's legal system and of course it is here in the us and that was the agreement that was reached between both the us and the uk that if both men are found guilty they would not face the death penalty, it is likely they would face life behind bars, but as i've mentioned this is a hearing today, we will get the trail of both in exterior. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. china's broadcast regulators have banned public voting on reality tv shows, and actors with political views they deem "incorrect." the move is part of the chinese government's newest media crackdown. the authorities have also promised to promote more masculine images of men. regulators say only programmes

that foster a patriotic atmosphere and celebrate traditional chinese culture will be broadcast in the country. the federal aviation authority in the united states has grounded the virgin galactic spaceship while it investigates a deviation in its flight to the edge of space injuly. the space ship two's pilots are reported to have received yellow and amber alerts for flying too low while it was carrying the british billionaire richard branson. in the democratic republic of the congo, the environment minister says nearly 4,500 people have fallen sick following a toxic leak from a diamond mine in neighbouring angola. eve bazaiba said 12 people had died. she said the drc would ask for reparations for the damage caused. there has been no response so farfrom the mining company. countries around the world are debating whether, and how, to deal with the taliban now they're fully

in charge of afghanistan. britain's foreign secretary is already in the gulf state of qatarfor talks with senior taliban leaders. he's trying to persuade them to reopen kabul airport, so people who want to leave can fly out. the biden administration has signalled that it won't recognise the taliban, but has to work with them in some areas. on the ground, the story is about those who are desperate to leave. one employee from the uk embassy has been speaking to our chief international correspondent lyse doucet. christmas parties, diplomatic dinners, daily meals. head chef hameed was part of british embassy life in kabul for 13 years. this was the last meeting of kitchen staff with the british ambassador sir laurie bristow. he spent days at kabul airport overseeing the massive airlift. hameed and about 60 others were left behind because they weren't employed

by the foreign office but through a private contractor. translation: we worked so hard, i even during the covid lockdown, l and we were left behind. ifeel i have been betrayed. if they don't take us out of here, it is a big betrayal. now this family of five young children is hiding at home. many are doing the same. there is a battle at home. brave women take to the streets in the western city of herat. "don't be scared, we are all together," is their rallying cry — worried the taliban will stop them from working or studying as they did before. this woman has moved from one safe house to the next ever since the taliban swept into kabul. she had been working on issues

like gender and human rights. the taliban told her, "don't come to the office for now. many fear they will never be allowed to go back. as a human, it's my right to get education. it's my right to have a good job. unfortunately, this situation that came in in afghanistan, all of my dreams destroyed. kabul looks much the same, but it's not. a nation at war now seems to be a nation in waiting. so many afghans wondering, worrying, "what kind of new government will emerge with all of its rules and regulations?" many others still asking ever so anxiously how can they escape. for now, so many lives are on pause. lyse doucet, bbc news, kabul. and you can keep up to date with the situation in afghanistan, plus all the latest developments and reporting from lyse and our team in kabul, on our website, including this piece on resistance fighters

battling against the taliban in the panjshir valleyjust north of kabul. just go to bbc.com/news. if you want to get in touch with me, i'm on twitter, @bbckarishma. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme, while japan is the first nation to host the paralympic games twice, what's it like to be a disabled person living in the country? she received the nobel peace prize for her work with the poor and the dying in india slums. the head of the catholic church had said mother teresa was a wonderful example of how

to help people in need. we have to identify the bodies, then round the coffins and take them back home. parents are waiting and wives are waiting. hostages appeared, some carried, some running, trying to escape the nightmare behind them. britain lost a princess today, | described by all to whom she reached out as irreplaceable. an early—morning car crash in a paris underpass ended | a life with more than its share of pain and courage, - warmth and compassion. this is newsday on the bbc. the headlines: more than a0 people are now

known to have died after flash flooding hit the north—eastern united states. a british—born member of the islamic state group pleads guilty to charges of conspiring to murder american hostages in syria. the largest study of its kind has found that face masks do reduce the spread of covid—i9. it was done in bangladesh, and could have huge implications for countries where the vaccine rollout has been slow. for the past year and a half, most scientists have backed the use of masks. but it's hard to determine how much they help to curb transmission in the real world, where not everyone is masking, using the same quality of masks or wearing masks properly. it's important to note that this new study is waiting for peer review, but the researchers involved are unequivocal. the trial operated at massive scale. more than 3a0,000 people from 600 different villages in bangladesh took part. participants were split into two groups. people in one group

were encouraged to wear masks in a range of different ways. the other group wasn't. here's dr stephen luby, one of the authors of the study and a professor of infectious diseases at stanford university. at the very beginning the groups were identical in every way that we could measure. but during the course of this study, those who were reanalysed and encouraged to wear a mask are much more likely to wear a mask. so 13% in our nonintervention group and a2% in the group that got the masks. and then that group in turn got less covid, they got 9% less covid infections thanif got 9% less covid infections than if they were in the next

group. so this was a real—world evaluation. we were trying to work with people to say, can we encourage them to where their masks more? you could argue, we were fairly effective, going from 13% to a2%. had we pushed this higher, we have no doubt that we would have had an even bigger impact on covid—i9. and importantly, that 9% is an overall estimate. if you look at people who got these surgical masks, they went down by 12% and if you look at people who got surgical masks over the age of 50, they got 35% less covid—i9. so there is no question that the masks were effective. i think this really strengthens the argument that we have strong evidence, because prior to this, there was some concern that the evidence on a population level was entirely descriptive, or observational. that is, that people who wore masks clearly had less covid, but people were

worried that people who wore masks might also be at another behaviours, so it is not clear whether the masks were really responsible. so by doing a randomised controlled trial, this is really the gold standard for evaluating health interventions, we show, no, it is the mask that makes a difference. so i think for policymakers, this makes it very clear that improving mask intake that uptake will improve covid—i9 outcomes. japan is the first country in olympic history to host the paralympic games twice, but what is it like to be a disabled person living injapan today? it is one of the few countries that requires companies by law to hire a certain percentage of employees with disabilities. but, as our tokyo correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes discovers, prejudice against people with disabilities is still widespread. natsuko calls herself the tiny 100cm mum.

she was born with brittle bone disease and that means she cannot stand and has repeatedly broken numerous bones. but natsuko has given birth to two children, something almost unheard of for someone with her disability in japan. and something she says many people here still do not accept or approve of. many people are surprised and do not believe that i have children. if people say their honest feelings, they think it is not good. many people think it is not good to have children for disabled people. natsuko's experience shows how farjapan has to go, but also how far it has come. because last time the paralympics was held here in tokyo back in 196a, japan was still forcibly

sterilising disabled people to prevent them from having children of their own. that so—called eugenics protection law was only finally repealed in 1996. and to this day, the japanese government is not fully recognised the role it played in violating the rights of more than 20,000 disabled people. yumi is one of those victims. she was born with cerebral palsy. and she was 12—year—old, her womb was removed without her knowledge or consent. when i found out i can never be a mother, it broke my heart. suzuki—san and others are suing the japanese government. demanding it compensates them. i do not want money, i want people to know what happened to us.

to make sure it never happens again. i want disabled people to be treated equally. we are not things. we are human beings. close to the paralympic village, japanese schoolkids are learning what it's like to have to use a wheelchair to get around. this is a start. but natsuko thinks the real barrier to acceptance for people like her is that mostjapanese people have never actually met a disabled person. i use a wheelchair and people just walk the other way. many people see me and look at me strangely. and if i watch them, they ignore me because they don't have the chance to live with people with disabilities. all she really wants us to be given the same rights and be treated the same way as any other mum.

for that, she says japan still has some way to go. the legendary pop group abba have announced their first studio album for a0 years. abba voyage will be released in november. the quartet split up in 1982, but they're now preparing for a tour with a difference, as our arts correspondent david sillito reports. # i still have faith in you # i see it now abba and a new song. indeed, a new album. a0 yea rs a0 years on, benny and bjorn were in london to show some good news. one of pop's greatest acts was back.

# there was a union of heart and mind... to go into the studio, yes, let's— to go into the studio, yes, let's do— to go into the studio, yes, let's do that. they have not been — let's do that. they have not been interested in doing another record, i can tell you that, — another record, i can tell you that, for— another record, i can tell you that, for 35 years. but now they— that, for 35 years. but now they said. _ that, for 35 years. but now they said, ok. i remember we stood there the first day in front - of the mixing console, - the four of us looking at each other and everything camel rushing back, if in seconds, that was so amazing. # waterloo! # i was defeated, you won the war it's a7 years since waterloo, and since abba split up they've been asked if they would ever perform on stage again — and today they said yes. sort of. # you can dance # you can jive and the reason the announcement is taking place here

in the olympic park is because this is where the abba concerts are going to be taking place — but you won't be seeing abba as they are today, but rather with a degree of digital youthful enhancement. the group has been performing in a studio, and with the aid of motion capture digital effects, the image we will see and hear on the stage will be the band members in their �*70s heyday. to create, after the musicals and movies, another abba experience. but what makes this moment different is the new music. the new album. the reunion, a0 years on. david sillito, bbc news. fantastic group, aren't they? i would love to know what your favourite abba song is. tweet me at @bbckarishma. perhaps you can guess mind. there was some

suggestions from the producers i should sing mama mia, but i won't inflict that on you just yet. but is all from newsday. join us on bbc news. hello there. we're finally going to see some changes to the weather this week and into next week things look quite different. but in the short term we are ending the week on a similar note with this area of high pressure continuing to bring in a lot of cloud. on a similar note with this area of high pressure will continue to bring in a lot of cloud across the uk with limited clear spells. there will be a few glimmers of brightness around, particularly western scotland in the morning but generally a cloudy start. in to the afternoon favoured spots to see some sunshine developing more widley wil again be across scotland, northern england and parts of northern ireland and also southern england towards south wales and this is where we will see the highest temperatures in the low 20s. otherwise where we hold onto the cloud, it will be around the mid to high teens for most. as we head through friday night it looks like it's

going to be another cloudy one. across central and northern areas with clear spells across the south. but temperature wise, no more than ten to ia celsius. we are starting to importing our winds from a more southeasterly direction to start the weekend as our area of high pressure finally begins to retreat eastwards. it looks like it will bring some slightly drier air in from the near continent. we should see will see some holes in the cloud from the word go across central and southern areas. some sunny spells here with further north varying amounts of cloud and a little bit of sunshine but generally a lot of cloud. could see a few showers across southern and western areas into the afternoon but many places will be dry. temperatures around 21 or 22 for the high around the high teens though further north and east with the cloud. for sunday we see this feature runs to the northwest of the country. that's going to bring thicker cloud, more of a breeze, out breaks of rain, northen irleand, northwest england and northwest wales later in the day. some of this ring could be quite heavy.

further south, it is a drier picture for sunday afternoon, lighter winds coming in from france. and we should see increasing amounts of sunshine into the afternoon. temperatures responding to 2a degrees in the south. obviously because of more cloud the wind and the rain in the north and not quite as warm. and next week, we'll will start to import some warmer air the continent and some southern areas across the south on monday and tuesday, given some sunshine we could see those temperatures creeping around the mid 20 celsius and a little bit warmer and further north too.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main

news stories for you at the top of the hours straight after this programme. this time on weather world, code red for humanity, the stark warning that time is running out to avert a climate catastrophe. it is the beginning of a future that can be very catastrophic and very, very hard for us to survive in. after the heat, the floods on a catastrophic scale, killing hundreds of people, amid claims we are simply not prepared for more extreme rainfall. i'll be asking whether these disasters could mark a turning point in how the world reacts to climate change. and i'll be finding out why even a small empty reservoir like this one can help protect us from the effects of it. and i'll be looking at the way ourfood is farmed is having to adapt to climate change. and why some farmers are just as interested in the weather around the world as they are at home.