welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: a major victory for britney spears. a los angeles judge suspends the father of britney spears from his 13—years—long role as the controller of the singer's business affairs. he's set to be japan's new prime minister. but who is fumio kishida? translation: no matter who becomes the leader i of the ruling party, i don't think it will make any big difference. a british woman, sarah everard, who was raped and murdered in march had been falsely arrested and kindapped by a police officer. and how the trade in

wildlife trafficking is returning to asia despite the coronavirus pandemic. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. in the last few minutes, a los angeles judge has said that britney spears�* father james has been immediately suspended from her conservatorship. the judge sided with britney spears�*s lawyer, saying the current situation reflected a toxic environment. reflected a toxic environment. fans dallied around the

courthouse. i'm joined now by sophie long live in los angeles, who is outside the court house. talk us through how we got to this point and what the judge said. i this point and what the “udge said. . . this point and what the “udge said. m, , this point and what the 'udge said. m, _ ., said. i can say that the loudest _ said. i can say that the loudest erupted... - said. i can say that the loudest erupted... we | said. i can say that the . loudest erupted... we are outside this courthouse. jamie spears will be suspended from

the conservatorship. very passionate emotional testimony. she said she found her father intimidating and she found the conservatorship abusive. after

more than an argument from both sides, herfather is no longer in control of herfate... sides, herfather is no longer in control of her fate... we are hearing from people inside the courtroom it will be run by a man called john zabel. he will take jamie spears role for the time being. we believe the

new date will be the 31st of december, when a ruling will be made on the did termination of otherwise of the —— termination or otherwise of the conservatorship itself. jamie spears is suspended with immediate effect from the conservatorship. a major victory for everyone gathered outside. they

one judge who is terrified about the future. her words are spoken by a translator. i am spoken by a translator. i am one of the — spoken by a translator. i am one of the judges _ spoken by a translator. i am one of the judges in - one of thejudges in afghanistan. i studied one of thejudges in afghanistan. istudied hard one of thejudges in afghanistan. i studied hard at the faculty of law and completed the course. i worked as an active judge for eight years until the day the teller band took over. i dealt with different cases such as kidnapping, human smuggling, migrant smuggling, membership in groups such as ies and the teller ban and so on. with the takeover, judges like me live in fear. we live with anxiety and depression. we are not safe. i am scared and live in

fear in hiding. i am not safe at all stop some prisoners who have been freed are a danger to us. judges feel scared of them. i've been —— i know some have gone to court to find out the addresses ofjudges. we are living in a dark time. i had to leave my house and live someone else i don't want anyone to find me, they are chasing us. she is now living in england and described her experiences when the teller ban were first in power. when the teller ban were first in ower. , when the teller ban were first in power-— when the teller ban were first in ower. , ., ~' in power. they tried to kill me when they _ in power. they tried to kill me when they came _ in power. they tried to kill me when they came power - in power. they tried to kill me when they came power in - in power. they tried to kill me | when they came power in 1987. the teller ban came in our house. they did it because of myjob, because of my career, because i tried to empower women in my town. the second time in pakistan i established a school for refugees and again my total was as a judge. they

ran me over and put me there. that was my experience with the taliban. every day when i saw messages i cried because i am feeling hopeless and powerless. please provide a visa for the female judges. please provide a visa for the femalejudges. they need please provide a visa for the female judges. they need safety and security. the children are in a bad place that is my message on behalf of the female judges of afghanistan.— judges of afghanistan. talking there about _ judges of afghanistan. talking there about the _ judges of afghanistan. talking there about the plight - judges of afghanistan. talking there about the plight of - there about the plight of female afghan judges threatened by the taliban. i want to take a look now at some of the other stories in the headlines. kim jong—un has condemned the united states offer of talks as a showed corrupt countries hostile acts. the comments were made in a speech at the supreme people's assembly. the north korean leah had kind words. he

said he had no reason to provoke or hurt his neighbour. he the comments come. the leader of britain's main opposition labour party has made a stinging attack on the prime minister borisjohnson calling minister boris johnson calling him minister borisjohnson calling him a trickster and a showman with nothing left to show. after the virtual conference last year he apologised to supporters. his party were unelectable at the last general election. to unelectable at the last general election. ., ., , ., election. to the voters who thou . ht election. to the voters who thought we _ election. to the voters who thought we were _ election. to the voters who | thought we were unpatriotic election. to the voters who i thought we were unpatriotic or irresponsible or that we looked down on them, i say these simple but powerful word. we will never, under my leadership, go into an election

with a manifesto that is not a serious plan for government. the winter olympics and paralympics next year invasion will be held without fans from overseas with tickets restricted to fans living in mainland china because of the covid—19 pandemic. only fully vaccinated participants would be exempt from serving a 21 day quarantine upon arrival, unless an athlete can provide a justified medical exemption. this in other headlines a british court has heard how an off—duty policeman performed a fake arrest using handcuffs to convince a woman she was being detained for breaching coronavirus regulations. the policeman has admitted raping and murdering sarah everard in march. the case sparked an outrage against male violence towards women. our correspondent reports. she was

my precious little girl said sarah's mother. i can never talk to her, never hold her again. i am tormented at the thought of what she endured. that was that the hands of wayne cousens, in handcuffs when he was arrested at home telling lie after lie. he had already murdered sarah. he was askedif already murdered sarah. he was asked if he knew her. within minutes his pretending he handed sarah over alive to an eastern european gang. as sarah walked from her friends house, one that was hunting for a victim. this, the moment of that deception. his car on the

pavement hazard lights on and he stop sarah. his arm outstretched showing her his warrant card. using handcuffs he arrested her. he had previously been on covid patrol so he knew what to say. passers—by thought it was an undercover police operation but he used all the equipment and knowledge of being a police officer to do it. couzens sat in the dock, never lifting his head. sarah's family and friends listened to the devastating detail that is their daily reality. in the hours after kidnapping her, there was a mixture of the banal and the evil. after dumping sarah's body in woods in kent, he stops at costa coffee to get a hot chocolate. police think he's raped and murdered sarah by this time. the next day, he goes to buy a green can and fills it up with petrol. he returns to the woods and burns sarah's body in a fridge. later, it's dumped in water.

he goes back again to the woods for a family trip with his wife and children, just days after he'd left sarah's remains there. sarah's family remained so dignified as they told the court about sarah and about what they had lost. her father and sister asked couzens, who had his head bowed, to face them. couzens started shaking. mr everard told him, "sarah was handcuffed and unable to defend herself. this preys on my mind all the time. i can never forgive you for taking sarah away from us. all my family want is sarah back. you have broken our hearts." couzens has still never explained what exactly happened that night. a police officer betraying his uniform, a family left with no answers and without sarah, and a woman who had her life, herfuture, taken.

you can get in touch with me on twitter. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come in the programme: a warning that the trade in wildlife trafficking is returning to asia despite the corona virus pandemic. in all russia's turmoil, it has never quite come to this. president yeltsin said it would decide russia's destiny. the nightmare — decide russia's destiny. the nightmare is _ decide russia's destiny. tue: nightmare is playing decide russia's destiny. tte: nightmare is playing out decide russia's destiny. t'te: nightmare is playing out its final act, nightmare is playing out its finalact, russians nightmare is playing out its final act, russians are killing russians in front of a

grandstand audience. tt russians in front of a grandstand audience. it was his humility which _ grandstand audience. it was his humility which produced - humility which produced affection from catholics throughout the world, his departure is a tragedy for the catholic— departure is a tragedy for the catholic church.— catholic church. this man, arial sharon, _ catholic church. this man, arial sharon, visited - catholic church. this man, arial sharon, visited the l arial sharon, visited the religious compound and that started the trouble. he wants israel to have sovereignty over the holy sites, an idea that is unthinkable to palestinians. after 45 years of division, germany is one. in berlin, 1 million germans celebrate the rebirth of europe's biggest and richest nation. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines: a los angeles judge suspends the father of britney spears from his role

as the controller of the singer's business affairs. two femalejudges in afghanistan have spoken to the bbc about their fears of retribution from the taliban and others. over 20 femalejudges are in hiding and desperate to get out. japan's governing liberal democratic party has elected a new leader. fumio kishida is set to become the country's prime minister within days after winning a tight election within his party. he replaces yoshihide suga, who resigned after only a year in office partly because of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. mariko oi reports. meetjapan's soon—to—be 100th prime minister, who will most certainly be confirmed on the 11th of october by parliament, after winning the ruling party's leadership election. fumio kishida, just like many other lawmakers injapan, comes from a family of politicians. the former foreign minister is known as a moderate liberal,

so he's expected to steer the ruling party slightly to the left. and while his critics describe him as bland and boring, he's known to stand for stability. he's long been seen within the party as a consensus builder and a future leader who had the backing of its elders. translation: from today, i will with all my energy - get straight to work. party members around the country and members of parliament, please work with me. mr kushida is well—known for his advocacy for nuclear disarmament, who helped realise the then—us president barack obama to visit hiroshima in 2016. but he wasn't the most popular among voters. and as he has to call the general election before the end of next month, he needs to gain the support from the public, who don't know him too well.

his victory was greeted with mixed views. translation: from the candidates' policies, - i feel that all of them are thinking about people and doing various things for us. but among them, i personally was convinced by kushida's proper policies. translation: no matter who becomes the leader i of the ruling party, i don't think it will make any big difference. however, with kushida, the bureaucrats will get to work. in that sense, i think he will run the next administration smoothly. translation: the current prime minister lacks - popularity a little bit. when it comes to popularity, appearances matter a lot - when you show up in the media, so i think kushida _ is good because of his physical appearance. i the party's popularity has already suffered after the government pushed ahead to host the tokyo olympics despite strong public opposition. so far, he's promised to spend billions of dollars to help the world's third—biggest economy recover from covid restrictions. china was also high

on the agenda, and mr kushida has accused beijing of wanting to export its authoritarian system. ahead of the general election, voters will be watching how he aims to balance relations with the us and china. mariko oi, bbc news. for more on the results ofjapan's ldp leadership contest, we can cross live to washington and join naoko aoki, who's a research associate at the center for international and security studies at the university of maryland. great to have you on the programme. i want to start by asking, where you surprised that mr kishida was selected to lead the party? t that mr kishida was selected to lead the party?— lead the party? i think mr kishida's _ lead the party? i think mr kishida's victory - lead the party? i think mr kishida's victory in - lead the party? i think mr kishida's victory in the - lead the party? i think mr| kishida's victory in the ldp leadership race shows that they value stability and continuity over change. i say this because he came out top in the first

race, beating the administrative reform minister, who is outspoken in his tendencies and known as a bit of a maverick. of course they needed a second round vote to determine the winner, but the strong showing in the first round showed that the ldp greatly preferred continuity in this case. he greatly preferred continuity in this case. : , greatly preferred continuity in this case. ., , ., , ., this case. he has a number of foreian this case. he has a number of foreign policy _ this case. he has a number of foreign policy issues - this case. he has a number of foreign policy issues to - this case. he has a number of foreign policy issues to deal. foreign policy issues to deal with, if indeed he is selected as prime minister next week. on the foreign policy front, for instance, with the recent north korean missile tests, as well as relations between the us and china, how do you see him managing foreign policy? yes, i think mr kishida _ managing foreign policy? yes, i think mr kishida has _ managing foreign policy? yes, i think mr kishida has a - managing foreign policy? yes, i think mr kishida has a dovish i think mr kishida has a dovish image when it comes to foreign policy, but on the campaign trail he struck a notably

tougher tone, particularly towards china. for example, he talked a lot about wanting to work with other liberal democracies to gain influence and counter china's assertiveness. he also talked about appointing a special adviser on human rights, whose portfolio will include china's human rights abuses. he is calibrating his position a bit on those points. the pandemic has also been _ on those points. the pandemic has also been a _ on those points. the pandemic has also been a major - on those points. the pandemic has also been a major talking i has also been a major talking point, given the fact mr suga had to resign because of his handling of that, the perception of that. how do you think mr kishida might manage that, going forward? yes. think mr kishida might manage that, going forward?— that, going forward? yes, this is at the top — that, going forward? yes, this is at the top of _ that, going forward? yes, this is at the top of the _ that, going forward? yes, this is at the top of the priority - is at the top of the priority when it comes to policy issues that he has to deal with. the vaccine roll—out is continuing.

it started slowly, but japan has vaccinated quite a number of people at this point, over 60%. so that is going well, but keeping it under control will include other measures, so that's definitely at the top of his list and will be one of the things he will be judged for, in the house of representatives elections coming up.— elections coming up. thank you so much for— elections coming up. thank you so much forjoining _ elections coming up. thank you so much forjoining us. - conservation groups in southeast asia have warned... of a recent increase in wildlife trafficking and consumption. over the past two months, authorities have seized 50 rhino horns in malaysia and 17 tigers from a basement in vietnam. consumer demand for wildlife fell at the start of the pandemic, when it was believed that covid—19 had originated in a wet market in wuhan, china, but people's appetite for illegal wildlife in the region is returning. what we're hearing from campaigners is that

because of this unsettled state of the origin of the virus, as you know, scientific community or even intelligence community are divided over whether it was a spill—over from animal to human or was it a lab leak? and scientists are saying that it will take many years for us to reach a conclusion, and so wildlife campaigners are telling me that this unsettled state has kind of led to people being less reluctant, or let's say more relaxed, in terms of consuming wildlife. in the meantime, we're also seeing an increased number of seizures, so they are very worried we might be heading back to the pre—pandemic levels of wildlife consumption. navin, how widescale is the problem? or how widescale are people concerned about the problem becoming? there has been no study in terms of how many people are really going back like that, or surveys, but what campaigners and wildlife

investigators are telling us is that they have spoken to people and have found this relaxed attitude. and in the meantime, as you said, so many seizures in vietnam or in thailand. and just last year, or in 2019, after the outbreak of the pandemic, there have been reports that in the greater mekong region or lower mekong region, there has been selling of all this wildlife products — in one report, they found 80,000 different wildlife products in more than 1,000 outlets. and also in the meantime, there have been major seizures in africa. investigators tell me they were destined for southeast asia, the regular destination hotspots. navin, what are authorities doing about this, given the scale of the problem you've described?

as we know, china and vietnam, they have introduced bans, as you know. china, for instance, basically it's about certain terrestrial wildlife, in terms of food. similar restrictions, a similar ban in vietnam. but the issue here is that these countries... in china, for instance, they allow traditional use of medicines or even ornaments, and experts are telling me that these are loopholes, and even when these countries are trying to implement those bans, the market is so entrenched, it is a huge area, enforcement is really challenging. in the meantime, because of the border restrictions, illegal suppliers are offering discounts. that's a huge challenge. that was the bbc world service and environment correspondent talking about the challenge being seen as a result of the

resurgence of wildlife trafficking in southeast asia. stay with bbc news. hello there. after what was a mostly dry and clear end to wednesday for most of us, the weather steps up a gear through thursday and into the weekend. with spells of rain, some strong winds, some drier, brighter interludes in between, but the culprit — no prizes for guessing — is low pressure. and this frontal system pushing in from the west is going to bring rain for many of us through the day ahead, with some quite brisk winds as well, particularly in western areas. gusts across western scotland for a time in excess of 50mph. through the day, we will see cloud, we will see outbreaks of showery rain on and off with some drier interludes. best chance of any sunshine across northeast scotland and maybe for a time in the far southeast of england. those are the average wind speeds through the afternoon. gusts will be stronger than that. temperatures ranging from 13 degrees in aberdeen to 17

in cardiff and in plymouth. now, through thursday night, we will see more cloud, more showery rain, and then through the early hours of friday, it looks like we'll have a band of really heavy rain and potentially some quite squally winds that will start to work eastwards, but a much milder night in prospect, with temperatures for many places staying in double digits. so this band of heavy rain and strong winds will cross east anglia and the southeast through friday morning. behind that, england and wales will see some sunshine, but scotland and northern ireland seeing further outbreaks of rain, very windy, with gusts in excess of 50mph across parts of scotland particularly, and temperatures between 13 and 17 degrees. and then we get to the weekend and this frontal system running in from the west could spell trouble, could spell disruption for some, bringing some very heavy rain and then potentially spinning into a really deep area of low pressure drifting northwards across the uk, with the risk of gales, perhaps most especially across scotland, and heavy rain affecting most areas at times.

so saturday may start off dry for many of us, but it looks like we'll see some really very heavy and persistent rain working in from the southwest, maybe northern scotland staying just about dry. the winds picking up as well. and then through saturday night, that's when we're expecting an area of low pressure to develop. the detail may change between now and then, but we could see a bout of very strong winds drifting across scotland, some rain continuing here into sunday. sunshine and heavy showers further south and top temperatures to end the weekend between 12 and 17 degrees.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and main news stories for you at the top of the hour. the crisis over a lack of supplies in the uk triggered by a shortage of truck drivers has reignited the debate about the consequences of brexit. this comes on top of concerns about the impact on trade between great britain and northern ireland and what it means for the historic peace agreement there. zeinab badawi speaks to michel barnier, who was the eu's chief brexit negotiator and has declared

himself a centre—right candidate for the presidential