hello, welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm mariko oi. the headlines: welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm mariko oi. the headlines — a damning report on the uk's handling of the covid pandemic, calling it one of the worst national public health failures ever.

world leaders pledge to help the afghan people with offers of aid at a virtual summit of 620 leaders, but stress it doesn't mean they recognise the taliban. a coroner has confirmed that gabby petito died from strangulation. she went missing in the us while travelling with her boyfriend. herformer boyfriend is still missing. freedom at last for the elk that had a tyre stuck around its neck for two years. the man who made it happen tells us the story. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 8am in the morning in singapore and 1am in london, and 11:30 am in kabul. two days after the taliban took

over, —— two months after the taliban took over, afghanistan is facing a catastrophes. angela merkel said despite concerns about involving the taliban, the world needs to step up and not abandon afghans in need. the un says things aren't getting worse due to increased conflict, the pandemic and a persistent drought. over 18 million afghans are now in need of humanitarian assistance. that includes more than 9.5 million children, wanting to kids younger than five years old are facing acute malnutrition. overall, nearly 30% of the countries facing crisis levels of food insecurity. the bbc�*s yogita limaye is in trouble for us and has more on the

conditions and how crucial foreign aid will be to helping save lives. figs foreign aid will be to helping save lives.— save lives. as the un secretary-general i save lives. as the un secretary-general 's| save lives. as the un - secretary-general 's warning secretary—general �*s warning and very song strong words, this is a make or break moment for the country, if the global community does not act quickly, the world will pay the price for it. 18 million people in need of urgent life—saving support. priorto need of urgent life—saving support. prior to the 15th of august, we've been out meeting people who are living in open fields, who didn't have anything to shelter them, who didn't know where their next meal was coming from, we didn't have access to water, basic sanitation or medicines, getting even worse now, winter will be coming in and you still have people living like that outdoors. and all of that will field in —— will fill into instability in this country which no—one particularly wants. we did hear interestingly and significantly from the european commission president when she said this is humanitarian aid, it will be channelled through international agencies that are operating on the ground, it is

separate to develop aid that was also coming into afghanistan prior to the 15th of august and being channelled through the government and through the government and through government agencies on the ground, so she has made that separation very clear, trying to say that afghan people shouldn't suffer, we should be trying to help them out but at the same time, this is a government that has taken control but we do not recognise yet so this is a problem with the world is going to have to get together and solve. how do you reach the people of afghanistan who are really in need without that money, without that aid falling into the wrong hands or being misused. the united kingdom is not ready for the impact of climate change — that's the warning from the environment agency. it says hundreds could die in floods unless the places where people live, work and travel are made more resilient to the increasingly volatile weather. our science editor david shukman has the story. a street in cardiff became

a dangerous river earlier this month after a massive downpour. there was a similar scene in newcastle after torrential rain there. and, around the same time, london was engulfed, raising questions about how we'll cope as climate change makes the weather even more violent. but the biggest shock came in germany last july, a surge of water tore through communities. 200 people were killed and the fear is of disaster here on a similar scale. the weather events that we saw in europe this summer could happen here in england, and we need to be ready to save lives. we need to recognise that it's adapt or die. the environment agency is being deliberately blunt so that its recommendations are heard.

for homeowners and businesses to take basic steps to make their properties safe. to restore landscapes like forests so they hold rain water before it causes floods. and for bigger investments by governments in defences that can handle projected rises in sea levels. already the thames barrier, defending london, is being closed far more often than planned — a trend that will continue as the polar ice keeps melting, raising the height of the oceans. with its network of tunnels under the river, the barrier was designed decades ago and may not be big enough in future. the great steel gates are holding back a phenomenal volume of sea water that would otherwise enter the city and potentially cause disaster,

which is why climate change matters so much here. they're constantly watching the projections for how much the sea is going to rise, and it's also why we'll probably need a bigger barrier by 2070. but some stretches of the coast are not so lucky. homes in norfolk are being lost to the sea. the environment agency says it can't protect everyone. but since last year, when i met lorna bevan thompson, a local business owner, the waves have come much nearer. they're saying we've got billions of money available but it's not coming to us and our coastline is getting eroded daily, and it's irreparable damage. in some parts of the uk the challenge will be too little water. a growing population and drier summers will strain supplies. the government says it is preparing the country for a more turbulent climate and it wants world leaders to discuss the risks when they meet at the un summit in glasgow next month. david shukman, bbc news.

the somali government has urged kenya to "respect" the international rule of law. it comes after the un's top court handed somalia control over most of a disputed area of the indian ocean. but kenya has indicated it is not prepared to sacrifice "territorial waters". the statue of european navigator christopher columbus who paid the way for the colonisation and rotation of the americas was removed from mexico city last year and a petition had been signed by thousands of indigenous women. the well�*s finance ministers are meeting in washington this week and the international monetary fund �*s warning the recovery from the pandemic is faltering with developing

nations suffering the most. our economics in our correspondent faisal islam is outside with more. , ., , faisal islam is outside with more. ,.,, ~ faisal islam is outside with more. ., more. the post lock down nettina more. the post lock down getting messy. _ more. the post lock down getting messy. the - more. the post lock down - getting messy. the important meetinu getting messy. the important meeting message _ getting messy. the important meeting message and - getting messy. the important meeting message and it's - meeting message and it's important to note that compared to this time last year, in the depths of the pandemic as we've been hearing, the economy is growing and jobs numbers are better than we thought they were going to be. however, that good news is not spread equally around the world, and in particular developing economies with low vaccination rates are a particular source of concern but even in those economies, there is a concern about inflation. we are already seeing on international markets that expectations of interest rate rises at the end of next year from their emergency loans are now being pulled forward, potentially into this year in december stop a recovery yet but an imperfect one with the trade—off as regards interest rates and inflation. a coroner in the us

state of wyoming has confirmed that gabby petito died from strangulation. she was the young woman who went missing in september when travelling across the country with her boyfriend in a case that captured the attention of the nation. our north america correspondent peter bowes gave me the latest. we know from what the coroner has been saying that when she was found, when her body was found last month, he believes that she had been, her body had been out in the wilderness possibly for 3—4 weeks. so, that really puts the point of death as possibly late in august, which is about the time that the social media reports of their road trip across the american west stopped, stopped quite abruptly. and just really to remind you of their story, they had been travelling ever sincejuly, recording their trip, living in a van through social media. many, many people had been following what event happening, and then it abruptly all stopped. her boyfriend went back home to florida at the beginning

of september, didn't contact the police. it wasn't until september the 11th her concerned family actually called the police and reported her missing, and her body was found just over a week after that. we don't know much more from the postmortem examination. citing local laws, the coroner said that he wasn't at liberty to reveal any other information, although he did say she wasn't pregnant at the time of her death. her ex—boyfriend is still missing. he's a person of interest in the case. any clues as to where he may be? not really. it is a mystery as to where he is. he, according to his parents, had said in the middle of september that he was going off for a hike, but nothing has

been heard of him since then. there's a big police hunt under way near a county park in florida. but, so far, there are no clues as to his whereabouts. he is a person of interest. he hasn't been charged with anything in relation to gabby�*s death. he has been charged with one count of fraudulently using a credit card after her death. this is news down the bbc. daughter, and programme, harry and meghan take on newjobs and ethical investing. we speak to the man who will be their boss. parts of san francisco least affected by the earthquake are returning to life, but in the marina area where most of the damage was done, they are more conscious than ever of how much has been destroyed. in the 19 years since he was last here, he has gone from being a little—known revolutionary to an experienced and successful diplomatic operator. floor of the grand hotel, i ripping a hole in the front of the building. this government will not weaken, democracy will prevail.

it fills me with humility and gratitude to know that i have been chosen as the recipient of this foremost of earthly honours. this catholic nation - held its breath for the men they called the 33. and then, bells tolled i nationwide to announce the first rescue and chile let out an almighty roar. - must welcome back, you are watching news day on the bbc. on the main headlines the sour — world leaders agree to work together to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in afghanistan as the eu pledges more than $1 billion of aid at a virtual g20 summit.

an enquiry by members of parliament said the uk government's initial response to the covid pandemic was one of the worst ever public health failures in the country's history. it says both ministers and waited too long to bring in lockdowns, costing lies. the report also pointed out authorities claimed to have studied and then rejected the south korean approach, but could provide no evidence for this. a failure to draw on international expertise was also criticised. our health editor reports. a deadly new virus. hospital staff facing unprecedented challenges. the most comprehensive report so far on the official response to the covid crisis says serious mistakes were made and different policies could've saved lives. he was relatively young and totally fit and healthy, with no underlying health conditions.

phil got covid in march last year. his condition worsened, and he died in april. his daughter, sara, believes an earlier lockdown, restricting the spread of the virus, might have made all the difference. i do believe that a lot of, notjust my family, but a lot of otherfamilies who are in this situation, you know, it was avoidable, if action had been taken sooner, and perhaps a little bit more of a responsible approach had been taken sooner. the report looks at decisions around the timing of the march lockdown. it says full restrictions came too late because the government's scientific advisers wanted only to slow down the spread of the virus rather than stop it. most people, the vast majority of people get a mild illness to build up some degree of herd immunity as well. an acceptance of herd immunity and widespread infections was the attitude, according to the report, with groupthink among ministers and officials. come on, this virus is deadly here, love.

get that down you, lads, ey? events like the cheltenham racing festival in mid—march, the report adds, may have spread the virus. i think there is an issue there of hindsight, because at the time of the first lockdown, the expectation was that the tolerance in terms of how long people would live with lockdown for was a far shorter period than actually has proven to be the case. the second lockdown came in november. mps say a so—called "circuit—breaker" in england in september might have slowed the virus, though the emergence of a new variant wasn't then known. labour said the report's stark conclusions couldn't be ignored. to use language that this was one of the worst public health failures in the uk, that is a damning indictment. and my thoughts are with the families who've lost people because of these failures. the mps' report is highly critical of the test and trace system in england. it says it was set up much too late and that capacity

should've been built up much earlier in the pandemic, in line with some other countries. halting community testing in the early weeks had cost lives, according to the report. just one of the government's failings, said the former downing street adviser who'd given evidence to mps. me and others put into place work to try and improve the system in 2020 after the first wave. unfortunately, the prime minister, being thejoker that he is, has not pushed that work through. the covid pressure in care homes is examined in detail. the mps say that sending elderly people from hospitals into care homes without prior testing may have been understandable, but it contributed to the spread of the virus. staff entering care homes also may have carried infections. staff shortages and problems getting ppe hadn't helped. in hong kong and germany, they took more precautions early on to protect care homes, and they had fewer deaths as a result. that's definitely one

of the most important long—term lessons we need to learn. the report says vaccine development has been one of the most successful initiatives in uk science. early investment by the government in research and development is praised by mps. the vaccine taskforce being set up outside government is described as a masterstroke, with the success of the vaccine programme said to have redeemed many failings elsewhere. the report praises the response of the nhs to the pandemic, with a rapid increase in critical care beds. but it notes that even before covid struck, most hospitals were running at close to full capacity, and that meant that services, including some cancer care, were put on hold. the ensuing backlog has become one of the enduring legacies of the pandemic. and the mps note that bame communities experienced higher levels of severe illness and death, which highlighted inequalities in society. the government's overall response to the report is that they've been consistently guided by scientific

experts and are committed to learning lessons from the pandemic. hugh pym, bbc news. that enquiry into the uk's government noted the difference of approach of other countries, particularly in asia. more than three quarters of adults in malaysia have now had two jabs of a vaccine, paving the way for the government to open interstate travel. we are speaking with a health policy advocate who said the public in malaysia was reluctant at first to have the jab. compared to many developed countries, asia started their vaccine rollout late in february, by the end of may only fewer than 5% of the population had had full vaccination. but, overthe next format months we have had

something incredible happened — nearly 90% of the adult population receive bulldozers, making malaysia one of the fastest—growing vaccination rates in the world. the government seems to have anticipated the rich countries holding the vaccine issue, their planned strategy from the beginning to diversify the covid-19 beginning to diversify the covid—19 portfolio, initially the government had increment in their vaccine procurement, mainly the sinovac and inaudible and up to 110% of the population. and still the government has increased the coverage up to 130% of the overall population. with this kind of arrangement, and also working with the sinovac to look into the local pharmaceutical manufacturers, this has created a good buffer for the vaccine supply during

the vaccine rollout, ramp up period between june the vaccine rollout, ramp up period betweenjune and period between june and october, period betweenjune and october, buys had issues with the promised delivery schedule the promised delivery schedule the vaccine. yes. in. what about scepticism towards vaccines? how did the government tackle that? yes, certain refused to get vaccines, i think the main driverfor vaccines, i think the main driver for the vaccines, i think the main driverfor the vaccine vaccines, i think the main driver for the vaccine rollout campaign, the biggest push factor is the worsening pandemic itself where major campaigners, the rapid rise in new cases and death starting from may and picking up in october, then august casualties were at the worst — running in the hundreds. more than 20,000 new infection cases registered per day. the duke and duchess of sussex

have become partners of sustainable investment firm in new york. harry and meghan have joined ethic as impact partners, hoping to encourage young people to invest in sustainable companies. a short time ago i spoke to one of the cofounders of the company. we are very much partners in this relationship. the partnership really began when we were introduced by mutual connections that recognise that we shared a lot of the same values as an ethical investment platform. we prioritise things like climate change, the environment, human rights, and our mutual connection recognise that we actually shared a lot of the same values. we began the relationship when they actually invested in our last investment round, and also became clients. it was when we were going through the process that they look to the way that we think about these issues, think about the interconnected nature of theseissues the interconnected nature of these issues and how we go about solving them that we started to explore how we actually create this impact

partnership, which is, for us, a first and something we are incredibly excited about. but a lot of companies have been accused of what is known as greenwashing. on the surface, they look good stop how do you know if companies actually have legitimate, solid human rights and environmental standards? this is why transparency is so important in sustainable investment and it is why here at ethic what we try to do as much information as we can as it relates to the causes that we care about, and that is where i think this gets really exciting and will you believe ethic is differentiated. we look at the causes that our clients prioritise, it could be things like climate change, deforestation, human rights, racial justice, deforestation, human rights, racialjustice, and then we decide to try and figure out how the companies in the world, the biggest, either exacerbate or alleviate those issues. by gathering data what we can do

for our clients help them prioritise which issues or causes they care about most, and then ultimately build a portfolio that aligns with those causes, helping us to get over that issue of greenwashing. obviously that involvement gives you great publicity but what exactly do harry and meghan do as impact partners? very good question, and we are very excited to work with them and we have had many conversations with them about what the partnership looks like. we can break it down into three areas. primarily, there will be driving a lot of awareness around the issues that we are fighting for, that is things like climate, human rights, where we can be on the ground and try to understand how we solve those problems at a systemic level. then they can drive the conversation using the platform that they have. they are also going to help us build a community, and that is a community of individuals, investors, institutions to come

together to try to use the unique resources and assets and skill sets that we all have to try to drive towards solutions with that. then, finally, partnerships. we as an organisation like to strike incredibly interesting partnerships, and where they will help as thinking about how we partner with groups on the ground, having the most impact as well as organisations and institutions that are looking to be a part of the accelerating transition to sustainable investing. if you have ever filed a weight lifted off your shoulders, then you should be able to emphasise with an elk in colorado. it was forced to run the wilderness with attire stuck around its neck for two years but this weekend he was tracked down. —— a tyre. it has been removed and it is thought that he is some 16 kg lighter. what a heavy necklace! that is all we have

time for for this edition of news day. stay with us on bbc world. hello. there were some bright spots on tuesday. some of us got to see a bit of sunshine. but for many places, extensive cloud was the main weather feature, spilling down from the northwest, thick enough at times to produce some spots of rain and drizzle. and wednesday is looking like a very similar day. it will be mostly but not completely dry, often but not completely cloudy. where the cloud has broken, it is going to be quite a chilly start to the day, but most areas beginning with a lot of cloud, some mist and murk, some spots of rain and drizzle. now, through the day, i am hopeful that cloud will break a little bit. eastern scotland should see some sunny spells. parts of northern ireland, england and wales will see the cloud thinning and breaking to reveal some brighter interludes. top temperatures between 1a and 17 degrees, light winds down towards the south, but it will be quite easy further north.

through wednesday night into thursday, this cloud continues to feed in with some mist and hill fog, some spots of rain and temperatures of 9 to 11 degrees. some more persistent rain, though, beginning to develop in the north of scotland, and that's the first sign of a change. this weather front dropping into the picture during thursday will bring some outbreaks of rain southwards across scotland, that rain particularly heavy and persistent in the northwest highlands, some of that rain getting into northern ireland later in the day accompanied by a strong wind and a wind that will change direction and will start to come down from the north, bringing the first hint of some colder air into northern scotland. further south, england and wales mainly dry, often cloudy. once again, 16 or 17 degrees. but as we move through thursday night into friday, that weather front will make progress southwards. you can tell from the blue triangles that this is a cold front. that means it is introducing colder air, the blue shades spreading southwards across the chart for friday.

across the northern half of the uk, friday is likely to begin with a touch of frost, and it certainly will feel chillier. but what the front is also doing is it's clearing a lot of the cloud away, so there will be more in the way of sunshine. 15 or 16 degrees down towards the south, but further north — look at that — just 9 in aberdeen. but that colder spell won't last all that long. milder conditions will return from the west during the weekend. with that, we'll start to see some outbreaks of rain.

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