welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... the evidence is compelling — say scientists. covid—19 did start in an animal market in china's wuhan province. teetering on the world intercession. —— world recession. russia says it will withdraw from the international space station and build its own — ending decades of cooperation with the us and other countries. and england beat sweden 4—0 in the women's euros semi final — giving them a chance to win a first ever major women's tournament. 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. our top story for you today: scientists say there's "compelling evidence" that a market selling live animals in the chinese city of wuhan was the early epicentre of the covid—19 pandemic. it's a significant contribution to what's always been the dominant theory — that the outbreak began with the coronavirus spreading from animals to humans at the so called �*wet market'. this is the seafood wholesale market in wuhan. one of the studies just published in the journal science, says genetic information suggests there were two crossover events where animals infected humans in late 2019. a second study — also

in science — shows the earliest known cases in the city were clustered, around that market. i spoke to dr michael worobey, one of the lead authors of that study — and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the university of arizona. he took us through the research that was involved in coming to these conclusions. yes, we published two papers in science magazine today, the first, as you mentioned, places wuhan market at the epicentre of this pandemic very, very clearly, and on that one, we relied on data that had been collected as part of that who mission that was joint with china, as you mentioned, and that data has been around for about a year, but the location information, the residences of the earliest 174 cases back in december of 2019 weren't really easily available, and the first thing we did was work out where

most of those where. and with that, we were off to the races. we could see this exquisite signal that they were clustered very near to and surrounding the wuhan market in a way that was statistically off the charts, very clear that these cases were centred on and then diffusing into the local community from the earliest time point from there. well, what we are trying to do here is figure out as scientists what happened so that we can figure out how we can prevent it from happening again, so rather than getting into this game of pointing fingers, which the world has seen more than enough of, frankly, i would like these papers to be the end point of that exercise. i want to know what happened and what we can do to prevent the next one from going down the same lines, and what we

know now is the wildlife trade in china is at the centre of this outbreak, so, yeah, absolutely, let's figure out what we can do to stop that from happening again, and there is plenty began to. and there is plenty we can do. indeed, and just briefly, talk us through some of the things that we should be looking to do in the event of another outbreak. ok, so, when at the things that is amazing, actually, is how quickly we identify this outbreak and chinese doctors by december 27 had worked out that this was anything, and went our paper shows is that it only probablyjumped into humans may be in late november, so this is a very quick connecting of the dots when you consider how few people are infected early on. we need to detect weird cases of pneumonia that can't be

explained by the things that we already know cause pneumonia, very quickly, and we need to take those people to take samples from then and to molecularly characterise them, which we can do any day now and find out is this a new coronavirus, is this a new flu virus. all of that, this pandemic has shown we can do, but we didn't do a good job in terms of moving through the paces as quickly as we could to public health measures that actually stopped it from becoming a pandemic, but i'm encouraged that we can do a lot better and a virus like this, we could stop it next time. professor from the university of arizona. in other top stories for you today: the worst recession in half a century. that's the warning from the international monetary fund. in its world economic outlook it predicts global growth will be slower than previously

forecast. the funds chief economist said higher interest rates to curb inflation are making the risk factors much worse. we're expecting inflation to be more of a short—lived problem than it proved to be, and if the standard response when you get elevated energy price would be to say, look, there's not much the central banks can do to control the price of oil. therefore, if it's going to be transitory, let's just wait. there's not much we can do. but what we realise that it's notjust that, as ijust explained. it's a combination of factors — sort of the perfect storm for inflation. we can supply disruption, strong demand, and on top of that, and energy price shock. all of these things are pushing inflation outside of the comfort zone. we will have a special report from our business editor, do turn into that if you are keen to learn more about that story.

let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. the white house says china has only escalated tensions by its sharp rhetoric against a proposed visit to taiwan by the speaker of the us house of representatives, nancy pelosi. beijing said on monday it had issued forceful warnings to the biden administration over the plans. the sharp diplomatic exchange comes as president biden prepares to speak by phone with his chinese counterpart, xijinping, in the coming days. police in the democratic republic of congo say at least 15 people, including three peacekeepers, have been killed during demonstrations against the united nations in the eastern city of butembo. the demonstrators are demanding the departure of the country's un peacekeeping mission, which they say has failed to restore peace. japan has executed the man who killed seven people during an attack in tokyo in 2008. tomohiro kato drove a truck into pedestrians before stabbing a number of others. he was charged eight years ago, and is the first person to be executed this year injapan — one of the few developed

countries which still use the death penalty. in the uk, the latest tv debate between the two candidates that want to be prime minister — liz truss and rishi sunak— was cancelled, after the presenter fainted on air. the sun and talktv debate, hosted byjournalist kate mccann, was abruptly halted around halfway through — after a loud crash was heard. talktv said mccann was "fine" but the channel had been given medical advice not to continue. on twitter, both candidates extended their sympathies to the host. the debate had covered tax, the state of the nhs and the rising cost of living. to russia now — which has said it will withdraw from the international space station after 2024, ending two decades of cooperation with the united states and other countries. washington has described the announcement as unfortunate. the head of the russian

space agency said moscow would instead build its own orbiting station. here is the chief of the agency speaking to president vladimir putin earlier. translation: undoubtedly, we will fulfil all our _ obligations towards our partners, but the decision on leaving the station after the year 2024 has been made. i think that by that time, we will start forming a russian orbital station. i spoke to retired canadian astronaut chris hadfield, whose 20 year career in space saw him command the international space station and help build the russian space station mir, to ask what he made of the russian announcement. you know, if you actually listen to what he just said, it's that after 2024, we are going to leave the international space station, that's at least over two years away. everybody is going to leave the space station sometime after 2024, so i see it very much. the man has only been on thejob it very much. the man has only been on the job for 11 days now, so it's a good employee,

but i wouldn't put too much weight into it. there's all sorts of legal things that would have to happen, but it gives them a lot of manoeuvring and negotiating room as they look at what they want to do forwards on the space station. so what do you think is behind this statement to? what are they trying to achieve? well, every nation. _ they trying to achieve? well, every nation, including - they trying to achieve? well, every nation, including the l every nation, including the united states and all the other partners of the station regularly decide as politics change how they will participate in the international station, what level they are going to contribute, what their returns are going to be. so each country has their own national agenda, so they are in a strong bargaining position can i think by saying something outlandish like this, itjust improves the russian bargaining position, you know, i think it makes senseif you know, i think it makes sense if you are playing chess. it is kind of a good early

move. ., ~ ., i. move. you know, you were in sace move. you know, you were in space at _ move. you know, you were in space at a _ move. you know, you were in space at a time _ move. you know, you were in space at a time when - move. you know, you were in| space at a time when arguably relations between the russians and the international community was better. talk us through what it is like being in one of these international space missions to the astronauts from all of the world, us and russia, working together. i mean, i was also a cold war pilot intercepting soviet bombers as a combat cold war pilot. i have seen politics come and go and positions shift. i helped build the russian space station and was nasa's director of operations in russia for a few years. it's never been easy. you know, we were participating during the devaluation of the rouble and during the crash of 2008. as always conflict, but there is always conflict, but there is always cooperation. just on friday, samantha did a spacewalk with the cosmonauts just this past week on the space station, you know, it is

the crown jewel of their programme. it is the biggest and best thing that they have in their entire space programme. so it's never been easy, the international cooperation is difficult, but we are still doing it on a daily basis and none of that has changed. is it more difficult now do you think getting that current tensions the would all seeing? the world is a tense _ the would all seeing? the world is a tense place. _ the would all seeing? the world is a tense place. i _ the would all seeing? the world is a tense place. i think - the would all seeing? the world is a tense place. i think when i is a tense place. i think when russia invaded crimea several a lot of tension. and horrific for, specifically for everyone in ukraine and for the russian people for a long time as well. but of course adds to the tension in so many different fields. meanwhile, there are seven people up on a space station running 200 experiments working very closely together, being supported by mission

control all around the world on a 24 hour basis seven days a week, and we had been doing it for almost three decades now, so, yeah, i don't want to overreact to a couple of sentences that somebody said in moscow earlier today.— moscow earlier today. wise, and very smart _ moscow earlier today. wise, and very smart advice _ moscow earlier today. wise, and very smart advice there - moscow earlier today. wise, and very smart advice there from - very smart advice there from chris, retired canadian astronaut. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... england beat sweden 4—0 in the women's euros semi final — giving them a chance to win a first ever major women's tournament. the us space agency nasa has ordered an investigation after confirmation today that astronauts were cleared to fly while drunk.

the last foot patrol here, once an everyday part of the soldier's lot of trudgery and danger, now no more after almost four decades. each one is on one's own in a private house not doing any harm to anyone. i don't really see why all these people should wander in and say "you are doing something wrong." six rare white lion cubs- are on the prowl at worchester park, and already, they've been met with a roar of— approval from visitors. they were lovely, yeah, really sweet. yeah, they were cute. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines... scientists find "compelling evidence" that covid—19 started in wuhan�*s seafood and wildlife market — casting more doubt on claims it came from a lab.

the international monetary fund warns that the world could be teetering on the brink of the worst recession for half a century. the us government —— the us government estimates it may need nearly $7 billion to deal with the monkeypox outbreak in the united states, the washington post has reported. the funding estimate was part of a memo to president biden outlining a series of options, as opposed to a formal funding request, according to reports. the news comes days after the world health organization declared the monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency. nearly 70 countries in which the viral disease is not endemic have reported outbreaks, with 17,800 confirmed cases. well over 200 cases of the virus have already been reported in chicago, one of the largest citywide case counts anywhere in the united states. a charity administering a vaccine there complained that there wasn't enough supply. we had over 200 people lined up

around the building, and we only have 100 doses of the vaccine, that's the same today, a lot of people came, a lot of people line up early, unfortunately we had to turn some people away because we only have 100 to get out. to australia now — where the issue of diversity in politics is back in the spotlight, as the new federal parliament met for the first time this week since may's election. this parliament is the most racially and cuturally diverse in australia's history, with a record number of female and non—white mps. but many diversity advocates say it still doesn't come close to reflecting the make—up of the population. i'm joined now by dai le who has recently been elected to the australian house of representatives. it is wonderful to get it on the programme. i went to say, of course, congratulations, this is a remarkable achievement. it must feel very special. does it make you feel like things are changing in

australia in terms of diversity and politics?— australia in terms of diversity and politics? thanks for having me on your _ and politics? thanks for having me on your programme. - and politics? thanks for having me on your programme. look, j and politics? thanks for having i me on your programme. look, it has been such an honour and such a humbling experience, really, to be elected for our area one of the most culturally diverse electorates in the country. yes, we have seen some more women elected, more people of culturally diverse backgrounds being elected to our parliament at this 47th parliament. that said, though, i still think we have a long way to go in terms of having diversity, notjust cultural diversity, notjust cultural diversity, but diversity of perspectives is well represented in ourfederal parliament. look, this is a first step. we have not reached a tipping point yet, if i can put it that way. sometimes things are done just two, you know, just show. i got elected as an independent from the

community. i am as an independent from the community. iam not as an independent from the community. i am not backed by any major parties, you know, sometimes parties will bring a show that they are diverse, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they are in terms of diversity of perspective and really getting the diversity representation at the leadership level so you can have, you know, ishow, but it doesn't mean... have, you know, i show, but it doesn't mean. . ._ doesn't mean... it is interesting - doesn't mean... it is interesting that - doesn't mean... it is interesting that you | doesn't mean... it is i interesting that you are talking by the diversity of perspective, diversity of thought, and i think for the benefit to power the rest, just to explain how you got to where you are. yourjourney started rather remarkably when he first came to australia as a vietnamese refugee. that is ri . ht. vietnamese refugee. that is right- my — vietnamese refugee. that is right. my family _ vietnamese refugee. that is right. my family and - vietnamese refugee. that is right. my family and i - vietnamese refugee. that is l right. my family and i escaped or turned vietnam at the end of the war, i was a young girl. i'm sure that's not true. figs the war, i was a young girl. i'm sure that's not true. as a

seven-year-old, _ i'm sure that's not true. as a seven-year-old, and - i'm sure that's not true. as a seven-year-old, and i- life with my single—parent we escaped by boat, we settled in australia. spent a few years in refugee camps in southeast asia, and we resettled in australia in december 1979, so the unhcr paid, obviously back in those days at the vietnamese exit has played a very important role in processing people in camps in southeast asia. so we were very lucky to be given the opportunity to be resettled in australia and we arrived here with literally one single suitcase, and none of us could speak english, we were probably able to say hello and how are you. it probably able to say hello and how are yam— probably able to say hello and how are you. it is 'ust amazing stuff listening — how are you. it is 'ust amazing stuff listening to — how are you. it isjust amazing stuff listening to your- how are you. it isjust amazing stuff listening to your life - stuff listening to your life story there, and i don't want to take away from that, but i just want to ask you what do you think is holding more diversity back in australian

politics? i diversity back in australian olitics? ., �* ~ ., ., politics? i don't know what it's like in _ politics? i don't know what it's like in the _ politics? i don't know what it's like in the uk, - politics? i don't know what it's like in the uk, but - it's like in the uk, but certainly here, people of non—english—speaking backgrounds are very reluctant to step into leadership roles because obviously there is going to be a lot of demands and time spent in terms of networking, in terms of planning office politics or in terms of learning how to navigate office politics in addition to and understanding how to navigate the political sphere, that's what people want to do. there is a lot of reluctance especially for women as well. they have to choose between raising a family, looking after the family, because that's mainly people of predominantly ethnic backgrounds tending to prioritise the family needs more than anything. so that has kept them back in terms of stepping into leadership roles. we talk about diversity. that pool is not there. in addition, the system actually is also quite, there is that subtle,

what we call the glass ceiling. both sides, notjust one or the other. both sides, not 'ust one or the other. �* , ,., , both sides, not 'ust one or the other. �* , , ., ~ both sides, not 'ust one or the other. , ., ~ both sides, not 'ust one or the other. , , ., ~ other. absolutely. thank you so much forjoining _ other. absolutely. thank you so much forjoining us _ other. absolutely. thank you so much forjoining us on - other. absolutely. thank you so much forjoining us on the - much forjoining us on the programme. firefighters say they're finally starting to making progress in their attempts to control a wildfire that has threatened yosemite national park, in california. thousands of people have been forced from their homes as the hot, dry weather fuelled the flames. our correspondent james clayton reports. there aren't many cars going in this direction. locals have been ordered to evacuate from plumes of smoke and the raging fires beneath them. deeper into the forest, and people's homes are on the edge, left by their owners. the difference between these houses surviving and not are men like doyle. so if you look through these trees right there, you can see it building up. so it's on the opposite

side of that ridge. so it's coming up over the top of the ridge. and what will happen is eventually it'll start backing down, backing this way, and that's where we're doing our structure protection right now. doyle's team are trying to cut down trees near the property to form a protective barrier from the oncoming blaze. a few hundred metres away, and the fire is laying siege to this home. this is punishing work — it's over 30 degrees here in the sun — but up close to fires like this and the heat can feel unbearable. it's also dangerous work... ..as fire—ravaged trees disintegrate. this is how firefighters are trying to put out the fire. they create these long lines with bulldozers to get rid of the trees, createa fire line and, the hope is, contain the fire. it is semi—contained here, but the vast majority of this fire isn't, and it's incredibly hot. beth can see the billowing smoke from her front porch. her house is under pre—evacuation, which means if the fire starts spreading in the wrong direction, she'll have to leave, and quickly.

you know, ifound myself — i don't know if these are the stages of grief — but alternating between extreme sadness, fear, but anger, too. i think that's what i'm settling on a little bit, in that, you know, this is the new reality. this is climate inaction. beth has a house full of animals that she's packing up. her belongings are placed ready to go by the door. it's a routine she's very familiar with, living in drought—stricken california. a lot of us are probably just going to know we're going to have to probably evacuate once a year, and just be ready for that. this is what residents are trying to avoid. the oak fire has already ripped through some communities. and with the fire season only just getting started here, this could be a long, hot summer for california's firefighters. james clayton, bbc news, mariposa county, california. england are through to the final of the women's euros — after beating sweden 4—0

in the semi—final. in the north of england, where the match was played. i am in the fan zone here in sheffield. this game has just finished. it's about a mile down the road. 30,000 fans have been cheering on the lionesses there, and is up to 5000 fans here in the fan zone in sheffield. i've got some i want to introduce you to. now, girls, ispoke to some of the earlier. one of you said it was going to be 4—0. what is your name? willow. willow, so you said it was going to be 4—0. it is 4-0. how do you think the game went? what do you think, how are you feeling? i think the game was amazing. i really enjoyed it. what about you ? how did you find the game? good. and where you happy with 4—0? was that enough?

would you have preferred a few more goals? 4-0 is ok. who is your favourite player? who do you think deserves women of the match? i think they all did good. they all did good. a very good answer. and what about you? i think they all that good. they all smashed it, and hopefully we will be able to smash the finals. that's the next question, of course, because i couldn't speak to you about the final earlier. it's going to be germany or france. who do you want to play? does it matter, briefly? france. france, and you think we can beat them and take the title? yeah. yeah? what do you say, boys? it's coming home! those children are adorable, aren't they? much more on the euros on our website you can log on to find out more about the game, including highlights and match stats, and also to stay up to date with all the news on the other semi—final which will take place later on wednesday between france and germany.

that brings us to the end of newsday. thanks for staying with us. do stay with bbc news for the latest headlines. hello there. it felt rather cool for the time of year on tuesday across much of the country, particularly in the north and the west, where we also had 1—2 heavy showers around. but high pressure dominates the scene, as well, as we head into wednesday, but its centre will be pushing towards the east of the country — and that means gradually, we'll start to import air from the south. always a slightly warmer direction, so it'll feel a touch warmer i think across the country on wednesday. we start off dry and sunny, but through the afternoon, cloud will tend to build, many places will turn quite grey, and we could see a few showers sparking off, particularly northern england in towards scotland. temperatures a bit higher — 19—20 celsius in the north, and around 20—23 celsius across england and wales, and winds will remain light. now through wednesday night, we continue with this slightly warmer southerly airflow. quite a bit of cloud around,

some splashes of rain here and there, particularly through central areas. and temperatures no lower than around 13—15 celsius in the south, still a few cooler spots in the north. so, it is warming up as we end the week. for all areas, but in particularfor england and wales, it won't be wall—to—wall sunshine, there will be quite a bit of cloud around, and also some showers again, affecting more northern and western areas. thursday, our area of high pressure is very weak, out towards the north sea, bringing south southeasterly winds — these weather fronts slowly encroaching into the far west of the country later in the day. so, it'll going to be a pretty benign day, light winds, variable clouds, some sunshine around — the best of the sunshine across central and southern areas, thicker cloud across northern england and scotland, where we could see some splashes of rain here or there. but it'll feel warmer, up to 21 celsius in the central belt of scotland, maybe 24—25 celsius across the southeast. similar story on friday — probably a chance of seeing some showery rain through central and northern parts.

best of the sunshine in the south with the highest temperatures. but we'll start to see these weather fronts encroaching into the west of scotland, northern ireland later in the day. again, a warm day — up to 22 celsius in scotland, perhaps up to 27—28 in the southeast. beyond friday into the weekend, it looks like low pressure could bring more substantial rain to the north and the west of the country. very little rainfall getting into the southeast, where we really do need it. so, it'll stay quite warm into the weekend, though, with low pressure nearby, certainly to the north, we're likely see the rain here, and there will be quite a bit of cloud around at times, too.

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. europeans are already shivering at the prospect of a full—on energy crisis this coming winter. partly, it's fallout from russia's invasion of ukraine and the disruption to supplies of oil and gas. but there is a bigger global picture. the world is still dangerously reliant on fossil fuels, even as climate change makes decarbonisation ever

more urgent. my guest is boss of the international energy