welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... as a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in afghanistan and younger generations worry for theirfuture. we have a special report on the first 100 days since the taliban took over the country. translation: what is the point of livin: with translation: what is the point of living with no _ translation: what is the point of living with no food _ translation: what is the point of living with no food and _ translation: what is the point of living with no food and no - translation: what is the point of living with no food and no water? l translation: what is the point of. living with no food and no water? my landlord tells me if i can pay, i can pay. if not, i will leave. we've just been abandoned. the us taps into its oil reserves to try and bring down fuel prices. it's a move coordinated with five other countries including china. coronavirus infections continue to spiral in europe. northern ireland introduces

tighter restrictions, with a rise in case numbers and people in hospital. and it sounds like a hollywood script — why nasa plans to smash a spacecraft into an asteroid. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we begin in afghanistan, where it's been 100 days since the taliban seized power. the united nations has warned of an impending humanitarian catastrophe, with over half the population at risk of going hungry this winter. it has been calling for urgent support since august, when the taliban took over. the un now says its appealfor $600 million has reached its target,

and that the funds will now be directed at helping the 11 million most deprived people in the country. the bbc�*s yalda hakim is in kabul. she's been speaking to afghans about their lives now under taliban rule. it's early morning here in dasht—e—barchi, which is a predominantly shia—hazara community. the majority of the people standing here are labourers. they are waiting to see if there's any work for them here today. the taliban took over a country that was very much reliant on international aid. when the taps were turned off, the economy virtually collapsed.

nafisa tells me she's desperate.

security is one of the biggest concerns for the community here. it was just six months ago that a major attack was launched on a girls school — and the islamic state khorasan, or is—k, claimed responsibility. almost 100 girls lost their lives. one of the bombs went offjust behind me. another over there, and a third went off over there. it was designed to kill as many girls as possible. that attack happened under the old regime. but is—k has continued to target afghanistan's shia community. muhammad's two daughters were caught up that attack. he thought he had lost them. the taliban have promised security for all afghans — but many here say they still don't feel safe.

as we try and interview the head teacher, the boys make it very clear that they're allowed back. but across this country, most teenage girls are not. since the taliban took over, they've been told to wait at home until there is a nationwide policy. millions of girls across this country are waiting to hearfrom them.

even before the taliban came to power, there was a humanitarian crisis in this country. drought, aid cuts, and economic collapse have turned crisis into catastrophe. we've just come to the indira gandhi children's hospital, where there are many cases of children suffering from acute malnutrition. gulnara is three — so weak she can barely open her eyes. marwa is nearly one. it's notjust patients suffering — health care staff haven't been paid for months.

every single person i'm speaking to has the same story. they can't pay for their ticket to come here, they can't pay for theirfood here. and she was just saying that someday they may have to admit her here as a malnutrition patient herself, because she doesn't know where she's going to get her next meal from. that was yalda hakim reporting there on a story that has gripped all of our attention — and we'll have more on that in later hours of newsday. i want to bring you another top story now — americans prepare to hit the road for the thanksgiving break, president biden is trying to bring down gas prices and curb inflation by releasing 50 million barrels of oilfrom america's strategic reserve. five other countries —

china, india,japan, south korea, and the uk — are doing the same thing in a coordinated move. here's the president speaking earlier. while our combined action will not solve the problem of high gas prices overnight, it will make a difference. it will take time but, before long, you should see the price of gas drop where you fill up your tank. and in the longer term, we will reduce our reliance on oil as we shift to clean energy. but right now, i will do what needs to be done to reduce the price you pay at the pump. for more on this, check out the bbc news website or download the bbc news app. our business team have been looking at the potential impact of measures announced by the us and other major oil—consuming nations, including china, india, japan, south korea, and the uk. staying in the us, thanksgiving celebrations are also cause for concern because of covid.

things are obviously better than they were at this stage last year. but the seven—day rolling average of new cases is ticking upwards. anthony fauci, the chief medical adviser to presidentjoe biden, has warned of a surge of infections if people don't take proper precautions. we have the thanksgiving holiday, which is several weeks before — a few weeks before the christmas holiday. during that period of time, i believe we should try and get people who are vaccinated indoors so that they can enjoy themselves with their thanksgiving meal. if someone is not vaccinated in that group, like a relative who wants to join, i believe we should ask the individual to get tested before they come into the home with vaccinated people, if they are unvaccinated. that's one of the things we can do. that's why i say other mitigation issues besides testing. myself and my family, i'll be vaccinated, my family vaccinated, we will have dinner with friends who are vaccinated. that's the best way to go.

meanwhile, the uk is on alert in the face of rising covid numbers in europe. northern ireland has the highest infection rate of all four nations and people there are again being asked to work from home where possible. 0ur health editor hugh pym reports. there's a stronger message on working from home in northern ireland, so businesses like this restaurant in belfast fear they'll lose out, with fewer people going into the city centre each day. we've worked really hard, and now it seems to be that people are cancelling. we're getting all of our stock in, getting ready. we have all of our staff organised, and unfortunately now, it may not look like certain things are happening. northern ireland's covid infection rate is now the highest in the uk. hospital admissions are expected to rise, and ministers said intervention was required, including advising people to limit social contacts as well as working from home.

there certainly are uncertain times, but now is the time for action. if we want to achieve the best possible outcome right now, then now is the time to act. case rates have fallen slightly in scotland, and nicola sturgeon announced that the vaccine passport system would not be extended to more venues, but she said taking a lateral flow test before socialising over the christmas period was vital to slow the spread of the virus. 0ur situation is definitely more positive than we might have expected it to be at this point, but it is still precarious. we need to get the r number back below 1, and that means having in place a range of proportionate protections to keep the country as safe as possible while we continue to live as freely as possible. at this pub in perth, they were relieved that vaccine passports would not be required for customers at this stage, but concerned at the possibility that tighter rules may yet be introduced.

you never know one day to the next what is going to be coming in next and whether we are going to be a viable business at the end of it. we feel quite lucky that we've managed to get this far, but whether we make it through christmas if they change things is a different matter. while uk covid infection rates are relatively high, they are not surging, as has happened in austria, the netherlands, and germany, where a range of lockdown measures are being introduced. that's partly because the uk has moved ahead of some others with boosterjabs, though israel started earlier and has done more. and the boss of astrazeneca, pascal soriot, seen here on the left with prince charles at the opening of a new research facility in cambridge, offered up one theory. the uk, he said, had seen relatively fewer covid hospital cases because the az vaccine had a longer immune response than others. but the guidance in england on lateral flow tests is being widened to include those planning to mix with others

in crowded indoor spaces, a sign that officials are taking nothing for granted. germany and france have become the latest countries to advise their citizens to leave ethiopia, after an escalation in the country's civil war. ethiopia's prime minister says he's heading to the front line, to defend his country against tigray rebels. that surprise move comes amid reports of rebel forces advancing towards the capital, addis ababa. their latest gain is the town of shewa robit, which is on the main road linking the capital to the north. the bbc�*s emmanuel igunza has more from nairobi. it's a startling moment. just two years ago, prime minister abiy ahmed won the nobel peace prize describing war as "the epitome of hell". today, he's threatening to march in person to the battlefront to join his troops in the year—long war against the tigray people's

liberation fighters. the tplf, which has joined forces with another rebel group, have dismissed the statement and claim to have captured key towns and cities as the events south towards the capital, addis ababa. the government denies this. supporters of the prime minister have cheered him on, calling him brave — but critics say it's just a publicity stunt for mr abiy, who once served in the military. this has been a devastating war. there have been casualties, thousands killed, and millions displaced by the conflict, ethiopia declared a state of emergency at the beginning of november. the un says nearly half a million people are living under famine—like conditions. even aid workers have been targeted. nearly 30 have been killed since fighting broke out. rights groups have accused both sides of atrocities that amount to war crimes. the un has reiterated calls for the release of humanitarian workers and more than 70 drivers detained by authorities earlier this month.

no reason was given for their arrest. in ethiopia, it's a fluctuating picture. the latest numbers i've just received are five un staff and two dependants in custody. six staff, as mentioned, were released yesterday, and one was released today. however, one un staff member and a dependent were detained today. neither side has committed to talks. earlier this month, the us secretary of state anthony blink and warned that an out and out conflict would be a disaster for the that an out and out conflict would be a disasterfor the ethiopian people, and others in the region. at the root of the war is a disagreement between the perimeter and the dp lf. the simmering corruption in the war 12 months ago when to grand forces were accused

of... and the federal government responded. they came into power, bringing with them reforms and promising to heal old wounds. today, the country is torn apart by bitter ethnic ensigns that leads many to question how things could have gone so wrong for a country that held so much hope. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the arrest of a prominent human rights activist from kashmir under an anti—terrorism law prompts outrage in india. president kennedy was shot down and died almost immediately. the murder ofjohn kennedy is a disaster for the whole free world. he caught the imagination of the world — the first of a new generation of leaders. margaret thatcher is resigning as leader of the conservative party and prime minister. before leaving number ten to see the queen, she told her cabinet,

"it's a funny old world." angela merkel is germany's first woman chancellor, easily securing the majority she needed. attempts to fly a hot air - balloon had to be abandoned after a few minutes, _ but nobody seemed to mind very much. as one local comic put it, "it's not hot air we need, it's hard cash." l cuba has declared nine days of mourning following the death of fidel castro at the age of 90. castro developed close ties with the soviet union in the 19605 — it was an alliance that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war with the cuban missile crisis. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. 0ur headlines... after 100 days of taliban rule in afghanistan, the country is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster. the us and five other nations have

coordinated a mass release from their strategic oil reserves in a bid to force down prices. in india, the arrest of a prominent human rights activist from kashmir under an anti—terrorism law has prompted outrage. khurram parvez runs an organisation that has published many scathing reports on human rights violations by security forces in indian administered kashmir. from mumbai, the bbc�*s india correspondent yogita limaye reports. khurram parvez is a very well—known activist in kashmir. he runs an organisation that was founded in 2000 — and for decades, it's been documenting instances of human rights violations by security forces in administered kashmir. the nature of the work that he does has put him at odds with notjust the current government in india, but with previous governments as well. with the current government,

however, we've seen that they've taken a far more strident approach towards kashmir. in 2019, they revoked the relative economy that kashmir enjoyed. —— relative autonomy. thousands of people were put injail, in detention, communication was shut down. even in the past two years, there have been frequent internet shutdowns in the region. when you talk to locals, they say there's always a fear that someone is going to be picked up and put in jail, and they see this arrest as the latest in the longest of instances of crackdowns on democratic rights in kashmir. we've also seen outrage from global human rights activists who say this is an attempt to suppress the voice of human rights defenders. mr parvez has been accused of terror funding and conspiracy. what other specific allegations against him will only be clear in court, but the law under which he's charged, a terrorism law, allows for an individual to be kept

injailfor a long time. lawyers say it's hard to get recourse to a bail application, for example. mr parvez, or his family, have not yet commented on his arrest. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines... officials in wisconsin have charged the man who drove into a christmas parade with five counts of intentional homicide. prosecutors have revealed that a sixth victim, a child, has died from injuries sustained in the incident. the court heard that the defendant, darrell brooks, had a history of previous offences, many of them violent, dating back two decades. a jury in the us state of georgia has begun its deliberations in the case of three white men charged with the murder of a black man last year. the defendants are accused of shooting ahmaud arbery while he was outjogging in the city of brunswick. they have pleaded not guilty.

it's the stuff of hollywood blockbusters — a mission into space, to try to stop an asteroid hitting the earth. but that's what nasa is actually testing this week, with the launch of its dart mission. the agency is firing a spacecraft at a huge lump of rock in space, to see if it can be tipped in another direction. the aim is to develop technology that could stop any dangerous asteroid in the future smashing into earth. 0ur science correspondent rebecca morelle has more. until now, it's been the stuff of hollywood blockbusters like armageddon. an asteroid heading for earth and a mission to stop it. but science fiction is becoming science fact. for the first time, nasa is sending up a spacecraft to knock an asteroid off course. this one is not a danger to the earth, but the dart mission as a trial of technology for the future. normally when we are talking about a mission to go to space,

we are going to explore some new world, but in this case we are literally going to crash a spaceship into an asteroid and change the direction and speed at which it moves through space, and we are doing that to basically test the technique to save the planet if there was ever a killer asteroid coming towards earth. nasa is targeting a small asteroid called dimorphos, which is orbiting around a larger space rock. the spacecraft travelling at around 13,000 mph will fly into into the small asteroid leaving an impact crater up to 20 metres wide. but this should also give the rock a kick, which will speed up its orbit — and this can be monitored from the earth to see if it has worked. 0nboard is also a mini—satellite that will film the crash. even a small nudge can make a big difference to an asteroid's path, and that could be vital. a 160—metre—wide rock like dimorphos could devastate populous areas, but smaller ones are a problem, too. anything bigger than the 20—metre

asteroid that broke up over russia in 2013 and injured hundreds of people are a concern. even the smaller objects can cause quite a lot of damage. a 25—metre asteroid, they will be really hard to spot with telescopes, so we are always pushing the technology and the science we can do and then we will try to detect where every single object is so we know what is coming in the future. the spacecraft will take nearly a year to travel the 7 million miles to its destination. no one has ever tried anything like this before, but it could be the best chance of defending our planet if an asteroid is ever on a disastrous collision course. rebecca morrelle, bbc news. well, someone who's watching this closely is daniella dellagiustina. she's a planetary scientist at the university of arizona, and joins us now from tucson, arizona. daniela, great to have you on the programme. it does sound a bit like

science fiction, doesn't it — but how important is this mission? it does sound like science fiction, and i think that's why it's so cool. so this is humanity's first attempt to change or redirect the path of another object in its solar system. and it's very important — we have a lot of theories about how we might deflect an asteroid from crossing paths with our own planet, but so far these are just ideas. so the dart mission will provide the first actual testing of one of these theories. it's a to neck democrat technique that involves sending a spacecraft that really high speeds into another object in order to alter its path. into another ob'ect in order to alter its path.— alter its path. what size of an asteroid could _ alter its path. what size of an asteroid could do _ alter its path. what size of an asteroid could do really - alter its path. what size of an i asteroid could do really serious damage to the earth? it’s asteroid could do really serious damage to the earth?— asteroid could do really serious damage to the earth? it's a great cuestion, damage to the earth? it's a great question. and _ damage to the earth? it's a great question, and it _ damage to the earth? it's a great question, and it depends - damage to the earth? it's a great question, and it depends on - damage to the earth? it's a great question, and it depends on what damage to the earth? it's a great - question, and it depends on what you mean by serious damage. so objects that are 50—100 meters across, if

they hit a populated area, they can cause a lot of devastation also and those are a lot more common than, for example, ten km across asteroids, which are, you know, an asteroids, which are, you know, an asteroid which likely caused the extinction of the dinosaurs was about that size. so again, it depends what you mean by serious damage — there is a range of possibilities depending on the size of the object. but objects in the hundred meter or so rains are a lot more common than the larger objects that have caused distinct events and earth's past. find that have caused distinct events and earth's past-— earth's past. and “ust briefly, althou . h earth's past. and “ust briefly, although it earth's past. and “ust briefly, although i wish _ earth's past. and just briefly, although i wish we _ earth's past. and just briefly, although i wish we could - earth's past. and just briefly, although i wish we could talk| earth's past. and just briefly, - although i wish we could talk about this all day, how long will it take until the dart crashes into the asteroid? it until the dart crashes into the asteroid? ., , , until the dart crashes into the asteroid? . , , , , asteroid? it will happen pretty soon here, in asteroid? it will happen pretty soon here. in about _ asteroid? it will happen pretty soon here, in about ten _ asteroid? it will happen pretty soon here, in about ten months. - asteroid? it will happen pretty soon here, in about ten months. so - asteroid? it will happen pretty soon here, in about ten months. so this| here, in about ten months. so this is a relatively quick mission compared to some of the other spacecraft that we've sent to explore asteroids.— spacecraft that we've sent to explore asteroids. well, right on time there. _ explore asteroids. well, right on time there, thanks _ explore asteroids. well, right on time there, thanks so _ explore asteroids. well, right on time there, thanks so much - explore asteroids. well, right on time there, thanks so much for i time there, thanks so much for joining us on newsday.

that's all for now — stay with bbc news. hello there. later this week, not only is there potentialfor some more disruptive weather heading our way, but something much colder, as well. wednesday starts off on a chilly note with a bit of frost in places, but some mist and dense fog patches possible across parts of england and wales — the winds have been lightet through the night. a bit more of a breeze through scotland and northern ireland to get under way, and some wet weather for the morning rush hour — this weather front here, a cold front, will bring the first run of cold air further and further southwards as we go through the next 2a hours. in the southern half of the country, a bit of a chill, temperatures not rising much — we still have light winds and a relatively quiet day, lots of mist and fog around. the morning rain, though, across scotland and northern ireland is replaced by sunshine and scattered showers, some heavy with hail, turning wintry in the far north of scotland, particularly on the hills. but turning wetter later on,

northwest england, north and west wales as that cold front slowly makes its way southwards and eastwards. a little bit of patchy rain and drizzle to the south and east, we'll see some wetter conditions here through wednesday night. at the same time, very windy through wednesday night into thursday, and the far north of scotland seeing gusts of wind 50—60 mph — and that'll bring colder air, a very cold thursday morning commute, but a bright, crisp one for many, really good visibility, sunshine for the most part. some showers around the western and eastern coasts, but most of the showers will be in the north of scotland, where snow could even come down to sea level later, and an added wind—chill to go with what will be a cool day. and then things turn much more disturbed — through thursday into friday, particularly friday night and saturday, this area of low pressure transferring its way southwards. cold air wrapped around it, which means a greater chance of things turning to snow for some, but it's the winds which could be the key feature. even on friday, the winds really starting to pick up — outbreaks of rain initially pushing southwards and eastwards, but the showers that follow in its wake will turn increasingly wintry — over the hills for many, but even to lower levels

in the lower half of scotland, and it will be a cold day. but through friday night into saturday, as our low pressure transfers its way southwards, we could see gales, if not severe gales develop along that weather system, working its way south and, as i said, there could be a bit of snow mixed in, too. and that will take us into saturday, as well. now those strong winds could be a problem in some parts, we could see damaging gusts of wind, some travel disruption around to take us into the weekend. even if you don't see those damaging winds — widespread gales and, as i said, that risk of rain and snow, too. see you soon.

this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the latest headlines... after 100 days of taliban rule in afghanistan, there are warnings the country is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. the un says more than half of the population is at risk of going hungry in the coming months. president biden has announced a coordinated global action plan to tackle rising petrol prices. under the plan, 50 million barrels of oil will be released from emergency reserves to help lower fuel prices for americans. nearly 50 people, several of them children, have been killed after a bus crash in bulgaria. most of the victims are thought to be tourists from north macedonia. nasa is set to launch a mission to deliberately slam a spacecraft into an asteroid to try to alter its course. they're testing technology that could stop an asteroid colliding with earth.