some sunshine at times, and a top temperature in the southeast 20—21 celsius. welcome to newsday, i'm mariko oi live from singapore. and i'm karishma vaswani coming to you live from sydney australia it's the day before australians decide who will be their next prime minister — incubent scott morisson or his rival labour leader anthony albanese. australia was once nick named the lucky country — but is the rising cost of living and climate change making australia unliveable? also in the programme — joe biden is on his way to south korea on his first asian trip as us president. yay 86, nay 11.

the bill is passed. the us senate approves - the bill is passed. the us senate approves aid - the bill is passed. the us senate approves aid to i the bill is passed. the us - senate approves aid to ukraine, the largest aid package since russia invaded. the man behind film scores that mesmerized the millions, composer vangelis has died at the age of 79 years old. this is bbc news. it's newsday. hello and welcome to newsday — broadcasting live to you today from sydney, australia. a bit ofa a bit of a grim and gloomy day, the sun is coming up 2a hours before australians had to the polls after a heated election campaign, some of the main issues for you injust campaign, some of the main issues for you in just a moment, but first, let me talk

you through some of the facts and figures. the liberal national coalition has been in power since 2013 and is seeking another three—year term going up another three—year term going up against some of the opposition labour party, minor parties and independent candidates, all 151 seats in the lower house of the house of representatives will be up for grabs, the prettier coalition holding a majority in the lower house will form a government. voting is compulsory for all australians who must register when they turn 18. if you don't do that for me face a fine of about 15 us dollars or 20 australian dollars. and while you don't vote directly for a prime minister in australia — voting for the party instead — based on which party wins, the leader becomes the prime minister. and this election it's a choice between two men who are very familiar to australian voters — the incumbent scott morrison — or scomo as he is sometimes called here and anthony albanese — who in keeping with australia's affection for nicknames ending with oh — is sometimes known as albo.

0ther other key election issues that haven't necessarily dominated political discussions here but certainly has been a matter of policy concern is australia's relationship with china. now, strategically, australia has signed an agreement with the uk and the us, coming together in and the us, coming together in a alliance, mainly it's been said to ward off the influence of china in this part of the world. now, while voters aren't necessarily going to be debating over the rights and wrongs, we will have an important impact going forward for australia's political direction talk us through some of those main challenges, we can now speak to natasha. thank you so much forjoining us today, natasha. ijust want to get a sense from you about how important the issue of china has been in these elections.— elections. it's really interesting - elections. it's really interesting to - elections. it's really interesting to see i elections. it's really l interesting to see just elections. it's really - interesting to see just how australia's china story has changed in recent years. in 2019, we had an election where i don't think there was a single question asked about

china, and now you can see there is constant debate about there is constant debate about the relationship, about whether the relationship, about whether the new or returned to prime minister would have a meeting with the chinese leader about whether there will be a chinese military base in the south pacific close to australia. the fact that these issues dominate is really a sign of how australia's place in the world has shifted and how the australian public is feeling very anxious about the world that we are in today.- very anxious about the world that we are in today. when you look at some _ that we are in today. when you look at some of— that we are in today. when you look at some of the _ that we are in today. when you look at some of the comments| look at some of the comments from voters, particularly it was quite interesting to me, ethnic chinese voters, while they don't make up a big proportion of the australian voter demographic, they are a significant proportion. are there anxieties in those quarters?— there anxieties in those uuarters? ., ' quarters? for context, 1.2 million chinese _ quarters? for context, 1.2 i million chinese australians, that's 5% of the population, and they report having felt disproportionately affected by the decline in the bilateral relationship was that they say they've been discriminated against during this period, and often they have these geo— ties. they feel loyalty towards

china and towards australia. in this tense moment, you can see how there could be roadblocks there. they don't go in one particular way, there. they don't go in one particularway, it's there. they don't go in one particular way, it's a diverse community that ranges from people who have been years since the 1800s to new migrants. there are a number of swing seats in these elections where they make up quite a bit of the demography. both parties are trying to appeal to those parts of the community, but also trying to demonstrate their tough credentials on china. i their tough credentials on china. , ., ., , , china. i 'ust want to pick up on china. i just want to pick up on that, _ china. i just want to pick up on that, natasha, - china. i just want to pick up on that, natasha, in - china. i just want to pick up on that, natasha, in terms| china. i just want to pick up i on that, natasha, in terms of how they are managing what has been called the china challenge out here in australia, i have seen it referred to as dad, how did the named parties differ? that's a great question. 0n so many policy issues, we do have a relatively bipartisan consensus, so they agree that china is a key challenge, they agree that china is behaving more aggressively. in many

ways, acting adversely to australia's interest, where you can see points of difference is more about style and tone. the opposition have said that they would be more respectful in their dealings, they would work more closely with partners and allies in trying to limit china's influence. they said they wouldn't, for example, have made the kinds of comments he is seen coming out of the government around potential war with taiwan and we need to really boost australia's military presence. the other difference is about priorities. you mentioned the deal that is going to see australia acquire nuclear powered submarines as well as potentially see more us facing in australia. now, that is bipartisan, the opposition have said they will support this, but i would imagine in the future you would see more of a multilateral push from the potential labour government. advice and much more inclined towards working through the united nations, working with a broader range of partners, whereas i think this liberal government has very much

focused on australia, united states, the five, the united kingdom, those traditional relationships.— kingdom, those traditional relationships. whoever gets into power— relationships. whoever gets into power on _ relationships. whoever gets into power on saturday, - into power on saturday, you know, while there are the sort of political policy concerns when it comes to china, there's also the economic dependence of australia and china. you cannot get away from that, can you? how did they manage that going forward? it’s how did they manage that going forward? �* , . how did they manage that going forward? �*, . . , , forward? it's an incredibly fascinating _ forward? it's an incredibly fascinating issue - forward? it's an incredibly fascinating issue where i forward? it's an incredibly i fascinating issue where china is australia's largest trading partner, 40% of our trade still going to china on my even though we have had quite a few years now of this chill bilateral relation and no official contacts between ministers for almost three years now. now, australia is looking to diversify and it has done that successfully in some cases. we see businesses able to find other markets and able to find other markets and able to transition in other ways. we've also seen china put restrictions and tariffs on 1a of australia's industries, so in some ways, china is forcing australia to diversify. the

dichotomy of the two economies will continue. china will continue to meet australia's resources and services to build its middle class, so it is hard to see how we can get away from that when the world's largest market continues to need something that australia is good at providing. just briefly. _ good at providing. just briefly, no _ good at providing. just briefly, no matter - good at providing. just briefly, no matter whoj good at providing. just briefly, no matter who gets into power, is the reality that this sort of unhappy partnership continues? i think regardless — partnership continues? i think regardless of _ partnership continues? i think regardless of who _ partnership continues? i think regardless of who wins, - partnership continues? i think regardless of who wins, i - partnership continues? i think| regardless of who wins, i think there will be trying to find a fund in the declining relationship, try to insert some stability in what has been free fall, there is no way to see this improving without gas regardless which of who wins this weekend.— regardless which of who wins this weekend. fantastic to get ou on this weekend. fantastic to get you on the _ this weekend. fantastic to get you on the programme. - this weekend. fantastic to get you on the programme. lots l this weekend. fantastic to get - you on the programme. lots more on the australia election. do had to the bbc�*s website where you can see in—depth coverage of all of the main issues, including some of the things that natasha was just talking about there, as well as this piece, looking at the makeup of the australian government and the australian government and the federal parliament really fascinating stuff there, have a

look at the dot—coms lash news. back to you in the studio. thank you for that, correct my. —— karishma. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines.... police in london have now closed their investigation having handed out a total of 126 finds. mr johnson was fined last month over a party at his office. reading police say they have broken through security barriers at an annual religious festival where 45 people were killed in a stampede last year. police have limited numbers to this year's event at the mount marin to prevent a repeat of the disaster. some security cameras and that meant sabotaged, as they stormed the venue. sri lanka has defaulted on its debt for the first time

in history, as the country struggles with the worst financial crisis in more than 70 years. the central bank governor says the country is now in a "pre—emptive default". they have banned while wife are working on its networks, the government's decision has long been expected and puts canada in line with the us and other key allies who have expressed concerns about the national security implications of giving the chinese company access to key infrastructure. more suspected cases of monkeypox have been reported in europe. italy, sweden and france are the latest to detect the virus. monkeypox is a rare viral infection that causes fever and a bumpy rash. the risk of serious illness is usually low. joe biden is on his way to asia — his first trip to the region as us president. his first stop is south korea — where he'll meet the new

president yoon suk yeol. he then heads to tokyo to meetjapan�*s prime minister —fumio kishida. and he'll hold a summit with the quad — that's the us, japan, australia and india. i spoke to niels graham, assistant director with the atlantic council who's has been keeping up with developements. i asked what message president biden was likely to send to the region. so from my perspective, biden�*s trip to asia has two key messages, first, to reaffirm american alliances in the region as well as american partnerships, and to demonstrate to the region that despite the crisis in ukraine, the asia—pacific and the indo pacific specifically is laser focused importance for america's strategic industry, and secondly, through the launch of the economic framework and i think the administration also wants to demonstrate that in addition to the very robust long—standing security commitments from the united states has for its region, they are still very interested in very willing to engage with the region

on economic issues and work with the region to set rules and standards around issues of trade and climate end of trade and climate and climate end of their economic policy focus areas. of course, china will be closely watching his trip to the beach and. —— trip to the region. have we heard from beijing responding to this trip already? yes. we have. the foreign minister has gone and basically said that they don't really see a purpose for the framework and they don't see a purpose for the trip. really, i think it's within the administration's will to demonstrate, now, this deal does have a lot of weight to it, life importance to the region, and there is meat on the bones that it puts onto the deal that that their region is interested in engaging with the us overall. of course, countries like japan, south korea and australia already have pretty close ties with the united states, but when it comes to developing nations but they don't particularly want to have to choose between the us and china. how would they like to respond? sure, so i think that's really the most important thing

to watch what this framework overall. i think a lot of the policies and the framework around climate, around labour, ground infrastructure and things that countries that you point out, like japan, singapore, south korea are already aligned with the us. it will be interesting and important to watch what the us can barely offer towards developing nations to incentivise them to actually sign onto the deal and to make robust and serious commitments around things like labour standards, and traditional market access commitments that the us have traditionally put into these trade deals. the us senate has approved nearly $40 billion in aid to ukraine — the largest aid package since russia invaded. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... sta rt start time cruise is awarded the highest honour at the cannes film festival. this morning, an indian air force plane carrying mr gandhi's body landed in

delhi. the president of india walked to the plane to solemnly witness mr gandhi's final return from the political battlefield. ireland has voted overwhelmingly in favour of gay marriage, in doing so, it's become the first country in the world to approve the change in a national referendum. it was a remarkable climax to what was surely the most extraordinary funeral ever get into a pop singer. it's been a peaceful funeral demonstration so far, - but police are tear gassing the crowd, we don't- yet know why. the prelaunch ritual is well established here. helen was said to be in good spirits butjust a little apprehensive. in the last hour, east timor has become the world's newest nation. it was a bloody birth for a poor country and the challenges ahead are daunting. but for now, at least, it has time to celebrate.

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm mariko 0i, in singapore. 0ur headlines... australians had to the pond saturday to pick their next prime minister. incumbent or his rival, the labour leader, anthony albanese. presidentjoe biden is on his way to south korea on his first asia trip as a us leader. the us senate has approved a nearly $40 billion in aid to ukraine, the largest aid package since russia invaded. meanwhile, the secretary of state is warning the world is facing the greatest global food security crisis of our time security crisis of our time" — as more than 20 million tonnes of grain is piled up in ukraine — because of the war. he's called on russia to allow ships to leave black sea ports — including the key city

of 0desa — with food and fertiziler. 0ur correspondent caroline davies reports from 0desa. ukraine's wheat helps to feed the world, but while its black sea ports remain closed, much of it is beyond the world's reach. over 3,000 tons of grain fill yuriy�*s warehouse, but because of the issues transporting it out of the country, no—one wants to buy it. translation: i don't know who in the world to ask for help. - we would like to be helped to sell this grain at any price, as long as the people don't go hungry. i think that all western countries should help us. you need to bang your fist on the table, open the ukrainian ports, stop the russian invasion and take out this grain. how do you feel knowing that there are many people around the world that would be desperate for this crop? translation: there's a feeling of despair. i i'm talking now with tears in my eyes. it's hard to say. yuriy�*s problems are faced by farmers across the country.

this crop is due to be harvested in just over a month's time, but the farmers here still have no idea where they're going to store it or how they're going to get it out of the country. some goods can be taken out by road, others by rail, but not in the same quantities that used to be transported by sea. since russia began its invasion, ships can't move forfear of being hit. and the sea has also been mined, which could take months to remove. andrey stavnitser is the owner of one of the largest ports in ukraine. we have about 80 ships that are basically ghost ships in ukraine right now. the crews have left them, some of them are full, some of them are empty, they're in the ports or outside the ports, they're standing idle, and for the crews to come back, their shipping companies have to get clearance from insurance companies, and these insurance companies are obviously not happy to allow this to happen because the sea is full of mines.

how long do you think it will be until you can reopen the port again? we have no idea when we will be able to reopen the port. we are facing a disaster that's going to happen in the next few weeks when the new crop is here and the old crop is not exported. the un has warned that unless russia allows the ports to reopen, there could be mass hunger and famine for years. russia says sanctions imposed on it would need to be looked at if the world wants to solve the crisis. while many in the west will feel that russia is holding safe passage through the sea hostage, if no agreement is reached, ukraine's crop could rot while others starve. caroline davies, bbc news, 0desa. ukraine's president says russian forces have "completely destroyed" the eastern donbas region — accusing moscow of senseless bombardments as it intensifies its attacks. in another development, the international committee of the red cross says its registered hundreds of ukrainian prisoners of war — who've left the besieged azovstal steelworks in the ukrainian port

city of mariupol. the russian authorities say that all those who have left will be treated in line with international standards — but there are fears that some could face prosecution by president putin's courts. from moscow — our russia editor steve rosenberg reports. tired and wounded. moscow released these images of ukrainian fighters leaving the steelworks they'd been defending in mariupol, giving themselves up to the russians. ukraine is hoping for a prisoner swap, but in russia there are calls to put some of the soldiers on trial for war crimes. they are killers, they are criminals, but we give them medical care. but your country invaded ukraine with more than 100,000 troops. that's aggression, isn't it? no, it's not an aggression. it's not an aggression. don't bully us.

moscow tries to justify invading ukraine with a false claim — that it's gone in to fight nazis. a war crimes trial could shore up an unconvincing narrative. the kremlin wants russians to believe that in ukraine their army is battling nazis, and nato, europe and america were all plotting away to attack and destroy the motherland. and there are many here who believe this parallel reality. not everyone does. dmitry admits that his country, russia, is the aggressor. he is appalled by the bloodshed and once his whole town to know it. he has transformed outside of his shop into a message board with the names of ukrainian towns russia has attacked. kherson, irpin, kyiv. "peace to ukraine," it says. he has even turned his roof into the ukrainian flag.

translation: | thought| this would be a good way of getting information out, because for the first few weeks of the war our people didn't know what was happening. they didn't know that russia was shelling cities. some don't want to know. "traitor" has been graffitied on dmitry�*s door. and the police have been round. he's been fined for discrediting the army. "the front of a shop isn't for expressing opinions," she says. "he can say what he thinks," says anton. "i think attacking a neighbouring country is a strange thing to do." and in russia protesting can be a dangerous thing to do. but dmitry is refusing to stay silent. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. at the cannes film festival — tom cruise has been

the great composer has died at the great composer has died at the age of 79 —— vangelis. he is composed one of the best known film scores and won an oscar for the soundtrack in 1981. he also wrote music for many otherfilms, including many other films, including blade many otherfilms, including blade runner. david cilento looks back. chariots of fire theme music. chariots of fire, 1981, a soundtrack that was both an oscar winner and a number one single. the work of evangelos 0dysseas papathanassiou, better known as vangelis. he had started playing piano when he was four

and in the �*60s, aged 25, teamed up with a young demis roussos to form aphrodite's child. a life of writing commercial hits for his band was not what he wanted. in a studio in london, he spent hours alone, exploring the possibilities have been emerging new musical technology, the synthesiser. this led to a successful partnership with the singer... his most natural home was found, ——his most natural home was film. his musical signature was the sound of soaring hope

and lonely, infinite distance, sport, and space. movies such as blade runner. it was a vision of a distant future, los angeles 2019, and it needed the sound of the future. my interest was not to create a symphony orchestra, which i can, it's very easy, but to go further than that and do things the symphony orchestra can't do. he would explore, i think he was a musical i think ithinki i think i succeeded in creating something through this. he was rivate, something through this. he was private, publicity _ something through this. he was private, publicity shy, _ something through this. he was private, publicity shy, but i something through this. he was private, publicity shy, but his i private, publicity shy, but his life of constant travel and lonely hours in the studio, you can hear something of the life of vangelis and his music. vangelis who has died at the age of 79. before we go,

following his honour at the the actor is there, to help launch his top gun sequel — his top gun sequel — he was greeted by the duke and duchess of cambridge and that members of the cast in leicestershire square. he said the actors earned their wings. i didn't have to spend a lot of time educating the actors in aviation and in cinema and in editing and teach the fighter pilots about cinema, because when you look at this movie, we have to match lighting, we have to match locations, we are being worked into their training programmes, so i had to figure out how to do it so that the actors, it is a lot going on in that aeroplane. i like going on in that aircraft, thatjet. it's very intense. you don't know how intense it is until you've been in it, and i wanted to represent that in the film, so i wanted to prepare these actors in a manner that they could just perform, and also for the fighter pilots, you know, the things that they were doing,

that they understood what it is that they understood what it is that we were after. that is that for now. thank you for watching you stay. hello there. the weather is certainly a bit up and down at the moment. we had a pretty good day on thursday with sunshine across much of the country, temperatures into the low 20s. but after a much quieter night, things will change again on friday with more cloud, it's going to be cooler and breezy, and there will be some rain around at times. now, we've got a weather front approaching the northwest of the uk to bring some rain. we are also seeing more cloud moving up from the south across england and wales, starting to bring some rain by the morning. we will get wetter in the morning across the southeast of england, then into east anglia, some thunderstorms just across the channel. as it gets wetter here, we will start to see some sharp showers breaking out elsewhere, a spell of rain moves across northern ireland into western scotland and northwest england in the afternoon, by which time, we should see that more

persistent rain clearing to the southeast, some sunshine and even a few showers here. so it will be a cooler day, could make 19 celsius after the rain in the southeast, 14 celsius in the central belt of scotland. and we've got a spell of rain in the evening running eastwards across scotland, northern england, once that moves away, we will have some clearer skies overnight with a few showers left over in western parts of scotland by saturday morning. by then, temperatures will be around 9—11 celsius. this is the pattern that we've got as we head into the weekend. higher pressure to the south of the uk with a west—south—westerly airflow and some weather fronts approaching northern areas. so expect a lot of cloud for northern ireland. we may well see a little bit of rain here. a bight start, i think, in scotland, those showers in the west being replaced by thicker cloud and some outbreaks of rain in the afternoon. england and wales, a good chance of staying dry, some good spells of sunshine coming through, and those temperatures reaching 21 celsius in the southeast, still only around 14 celsisus in the central belt of scotland. second half of the weekend, got to keep an eye on this weatherfront here, could bring some showers into the english channel, but otherwise, it's towards the northwest

again that these weather fronts will bring in some more outbreaks of rain, particularly into scotland and northern ireland. a bit of damp and drizzly weather coming over the irish sea into western parts of england and wales, but thorugh the midlands towards east anglia and the southeast, here it should be dry. this is where we've got the best of the sunshine and the highest temperatures, up to 23 celsius, but it should be a little bit warmer for many of us on sunday. things will change, though, into the beginning of next week, because lowering pressure means that is going to get much wetter once again, and those temperatures will be dropping away as well. goodbye.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, as newsday continues — straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. the united states is a secular republic. there is no state religion, but many americans have nonetheless come to see their country as a beacon of muscular christian values. my guest today is franklin graham, a christian evangelist with a nationwide following and influence to match. his father, billy, was perhaps the most famous evangelist of them all, but franklin has taken the family ministry in a