welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. the headlines... china warns the us it will "bear the consequences" if house speaker nancy pelosi visits taiwan. president's xi and biden are due to speak later. the united states says it has offered russia a deal aimed at freeing the american basketballer brittney griner. trying to avert a global food crisis — the first ships carrying crucial grain supplies prepare to leave ports in ukraine. he's credited with inspiring the global green movement — tributes are paid to environmentalist, james lovelock who's died aged 103.

live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 7am in singapore, and 7pm in washington where a potential visit to taiwan by us house speaker nancy pelosi is stirring alarm in presidentjoe biden�*s administration. they fear the trip may cross red lines for china — and that there is no exit path. beijing, which claims sovereignty over the island, has already issued harsh warnings — even suggesting a possible military response. against this backdrop, president biden is expected to call president xi on thursday for the first time in months. for more, we can speak now to bonnie glaser, political commentator from the german marshall fund.

she joins us from washington. thank you so much for talking to the bbc. give us a sense of what is going on in the corridors of power in washington with this potential visit. ~ ~ . visit. well, i think that there are different _ visit. well, i think that there are different points - visit. well, i think that there are different points of- visit. well, i think that there are different points of view. visit. well, i think that there | are different points of view in washington. there are republicans in congress that are urging speaker pelosi to go to taiwan and to not change her plans. there are people in the administration who are worried, however, that if speaker pelosi goes now, that it could provoke a very strong reaction from china, and that this particular timing, because we are in the run up to the 20th party congress where is she thinking will be getting his third five—year term, that in this

period, they could be a lot of sensitivity. the president of china could be seen as being soft on the united states if he doesn't respond very strongly to nancy pelosi's visit. so there is worry that this could lead to another us— china crisis. some are even referring to it as the fourth potential taiwan crisis.— taiwan crisis. given all of this, taiwan crisis. given all of this. and _ taiwan crisis. given all of this, and given _ taiwan crisis. given all of this, and given the - taiwan crisis. given all of. this, and given the security threat what could speaker pelosi duped by visiting taiwan at this time i pelosi duped by visiting taiwan at this tim— at this time i don't think speaker _ at this time i don't think speaker pelosi's - at this time i don't think. speaker pelosi's objective business visit. many people believe this may be her last term serving as speaker. there is certainly a possibility that the republicans will be the majority and the upcoming elections at the end of this

year, and nancy pelosi has been a champion of human rights in china, of course, for many years during the 1989 massacre. she was very critical of china. she was very critical of china. she has spoken out criticising china's practices in hong kong, so i think she feels strongly about supporting democracy in taiwan. she is not the only member of congress who feels that way. i think also the administration whether under donald trump orjoe biden, there is growing support in the united states for taiwan and its democracy, but i think there are some questions about whether this is the right time for nancy pelosi to go or indeed whether she should go at all. she is the second in line for a succession to the presidency, and there has not

been a trip named by the speaker of house to taiwan for 25 years. speaker of house to taiwan for 25 ears. ., , ,, 25 years. you set it. she second _ 25 years. you set it. she second in _ 25 years. you set it. she second in line _ 25 years. you set it. she second in line for - 25 years. you set it. she second in line for the - second in line for the presidency. this is a big security situation, a big security situation, a big security issue. how far do you think china could go if the visit goes ahead?- think china could go if the visit goes ahead? well, there have been — visit goes ahead? well, there have been some _ visit goes ahead? well, there have been some signals - visit goes ahead? well, there l have been some signals coming from china. i myself have heard from china. i myself have heard from some retired pla officers, some threats about the potential for a some threats about the potentialfor a pla some threats about the potential for a pla air force plane to prevent nancy pelosi's plane to prevent nancy pelosi's plane from landing in taiwan. of course, there are other rumours as well, china has never flown a plane rumours as well, china has neverflown a plane inside taiwan's territorial airspace that's within 12 nautical miles. and they have not, of course, flown over taiwan, and

yet that is the potential outcome of this visit. of course, taiwanese aircraft scrambled. the potentialfor an scrambled. the potential for an incident, scrambled. the potentialfor an incident, and even an accident, is high. i533 incident, and even an accident, is hiuh. �* , incident, and even an accident, ishiuh. j ., ~ incident, and even an accident, ishiuh. j ., incident, and even an accident, ishiuh. j . is high. by me, thank you so much for _ is high. by me, thank you so much for talking _ is high. by me, thank you so much for talking to - is high. by me, thank you so much for talking to the - is high. by me, thank you so much for talking to the bbc. | much for talking to the bbc. thank you. the united states says it has offered russia a deal aimed at freeing the american basketballer star brittney griner, and a former us marine, paulwhelan. secretary of state antony blinken says he plans to discuss the matter in a phone call with his russian counterpart sergei lavrov. it would be the first such contact since russia's barbara plett usher reports. players in the washington mystics no brittney griner and have competed against her, and

respect her. she can her arrest. i respect her. she can her arrest. ., , ., , respect her. she can her arrest. ., , ., respect her. she can her arrest. . , ., ., arrest. i was really sad and a bit scared — arrest. i was really sad and a bit scared because _ arrest. i was really sad and a bit scared because it - arrest. i was really sad and a bit scared because it felt - arrest. i was really sad and a bit scared because it felt like it could be any of us. i pray overseas, the vast majority of wnba players play overseas comes a senior in that position where she is helpless was really unfortunate. brittney griner pied _ really unfortunate. brittney griner pled guilty _ really unfortunate. brittney griner pled guilty to - really unfortunate. brittney griner pled guilty to a - really unfortunate. brittney griner pled guilty to a drug| griner pled guilty to a drug related charge but said she didn't intend to break the law. he asked claims she has been wrongfully detained will stop it now in a rare move, the state department has gone public about an offer to lend her release and that of another american, paulwhelan. indie her release and that of another american, paulwhelan. we have conve ed american, paulwhelan. we have conveyed this _ american, paulwhelan. we have conveyed this on _ american, paulwhelan. we have conveyed this on a _ american, paulwhelan. we have conveyed this on a number - american, paulwhelan. we have conveyed this on a number of - conveyed this on a number of occasions in directly to russian officials, and my hope would be in speaking to foreign minister that i can advance the efforts to bring them home. he wouldn't give details, but the administration did agree to a prisoner swap at the kremlin for this former us marine. that

increased pressure from the families of other detainees. earlier, the present�*s point man for hostages told me the campaign was effective. i man for hostages told me the campaign was effective. i think the importance _ campaign was effective. i think the importance of— campaign was effective. i think the importance of the - campaign was effective. i think the importance of the families | the importance of the families coming up with a narrative to address what they are going through is actually very powerful for them, through is actually very powerfulfor them, and i think it is also, i guess in creating situational awareness and at times holding the us government accountable. this times holding the us government accountable.— accountable. this case has hel - ed accountable. this case has helped shine _ accountable. this case has helped shine a _ accountable. this case has helped shine a spotlight i accountable. this case has| helped shine a spotlight on accountable. this case has - helped shine a spotlight on an issue that is usually in the shadows. this mural recently unveiled and highlights how many americans are in this fix, how many stories there are. such as matthew heath, held in venezuela for nearly two years. matthew has been beaten over there so many times that both of his hands have been broken. he tried to take his own life and has been moved to a military hospital. mi; and has been moved to a military hospital.- and has been moved to a military hospital. my son is not going _ military hospital. my son is not going to _ military hospital. my son is not going to survive - military hospital. my son is not going to survive if - military hospital. my son is not going to survive if our i not going to survive if our government does not get him home. i don't know how much more he can endure. the return

of any detainee would _ more he can endure. the return of any detainee would bring - their desperate agonising uncertainty. barbara plante usher, bbc news, washington. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines.... the world health organization is advising men who have sex with other men to reduce their number of partners, in order to limit the spread of the monkeypox virus. ninety eight per cent of monkeypox cases are in men who have sex with men. 18 thousand have been reported in 78 countries, mostly in europe. there have been five deaths. this is an outbreak that can be stopped if countries, communities and individuals inform themselves, take the risk seriously and to take the steps needed to stop transmission and protect vulnerable groups. the best way to do that is to produce the risk of exposure. that means making safe choices for yourself and others.

parts of wuhan — the chinese city where the initial covid cases were recorded — have been placed under lockdown for the first time since the pandemic began. a million people have been ordered not to leave their homes for three days. police fired tear gas and used water cannons as hundreds of protesters breached a high—security zone in baghdad and broke into iraq's parliament building. supporters of the powerful cleric, muqtada al—sadr, demonstrated against the nomination of a rival candidate for prime minister. current prime minister, mustafa al—kadhimi, called on protesters to leave the green zone. the parent company of facebook and instagram has been hit by a fall in advertising sales, causing the first year—on—year revenue decline in the firm's history. meta says revenue in the second quarter has declined by one percent.

rivals such as tiktok have eroded its popularity, while more companies are competing for ad spending. i'll have more on this in asia business report in about 20 minutes. a new coordination centre has begun work in turkey, part of a complex deal to restart blockaded grain exports from ukraine. it's an effort to ease a global food crisis that is affecting millions around the world. more than 20 million tonnes of grain is waiting at ukrainian docks. the aim is to export five million tonnes a month, matching pre—war levels. richard galpin reports. from the start of the war back in february, russian forces have been blockading ukraine's black sea ports — preventing exports of ukrainian wheat and other grains vital for the food supply of many

countries around the world. according to officials, there are around 20 million tonnes of grain in ukraine. with fears growing of global food shortages, it seems there may now have been a breakthrough with a deal agreed by the two sides. it is hoped it will be possible for ships to be inspected near turkey and then guided past ukrainian sea mines before being loaded with grains and fertiliser. the first shipments are due in the coming days. all this after turkey's defence minister unveiled a coordination centre in istanbul to oversee the export of ukrainian grains. translation: currently, i the preparation is that ships laden with grain that will leave ukrainian ports. the work done by the world joint coronation centre will contribute to overcoming the food crisis affecting the whole world.

the un, ukraine and russia have all said they expect exports to begin in a few days. but russia's deputy foreign minister has warned the deal could collapse if the obstacles to russia's agricultural exports are not promptly removed. richard galpin, bbc news. despite moved to unblock graine exports, the fighting continues. ukrainian rocket strikes, have forced russia to close a key bridge, which is a crucial supply line for russian forces. the anton—ovsky bridge connects the occupied city of kherson, to the east bank of the d—nipro river. 0ur diplomatic correspondent, pauladams, explains. this was late last night, a pretty substantial barrage of precision rockets launched by this newly acquired system, the high mars system, which the americans have supplied. it gives them the ability

to launch precision strikes at some distance, and they have been using it to try to destroy the bridges that connect kherson and the region around kherson to other russian controlled territory on the other side of the dnipro river. finally, last night, they effectively succeeded in making sure that the bridge is no longer usable. and judging by the images that we have seen of it, it is going to take quite a long time to repair it. it's not the only bridge come there's also a railway bridge and another to bridge on nearby tributary which is being targeted by ukrainians. this is all parts, western officials say, of a growing ukrainian counteroffensive designed ultimately to retake kherson, a city that was taken very early on in the war by the russians. the first city of any consequence to be taken, regarded, western officials say, is the jewel in the crown of russia's occupation of southern ukraine.

so obviously if ukraine could retake it, that would be a huge setback for russia. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... birmingham prepares for the commonwealth games with atheletes — and celebrities — showing off the city's heritage. 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. 0ur headlines... china warns the us it will �*bear the consequences' if house speaker nancy pelosi visits taiwan. president's xi and biden are due to speak later. the united states says it has offered russia a deal aimed at freeing the american basketballer brittney griner the phillippines president has called for disaster relief systems

to be overhauled after an earthquake in the north of the country killed at least five people. it struck the northern island of luzon. buildings were damaged, and landslides reported in some areas. these pictures show people running from a bell tower 36 kilometres from the epicentre of the earthquake. i spoke earlier theodore rivero, a school teacher who was near the epicentre of the earthquake. we were at school for a seminar, all of a sudden, the earthquake shipped everyone. we need to evacuate the school onto the field. even some teachers were stuck in some classrooms because their fear of going down, because it was even so hard to run because of that very big magnitude. now, going back home,

of course, the principal wanted us to go to our homes to check on ourfamilies. the scene is very devastating. all the old houses were shattered. there were cracks in the ground. pipes burst... that you must have been terrifying for you. what about those who live nearby the school? i mean, how are they coping now? fortunately, the police some of the local authorities came to the school and checked on all of the cracks, all of the things that were damaged, they are already doing their part in order to fix all of the damage as. 0ur province is already under red alert for that.

firefighters have finally started to control the wildfires in california after thousands of people had to leave their homes. officials said the fire had behaved unlike any other they had seen. aaron martinez was out of town with his family when he found the oak fire was nearing his home. by the time they got back, all the roads were closed because the fire was spreading too quickly. the bbc�*s james clayton returned to the property with the martinez family — to see what was left. this was the martinez family's favourite place in the world. they called it shangri—la. their home has now been obliterated. aaron has returned to assess the damage. this was my house. this is where i felt the safest. this is where my office was, my television, my computer, books, and binders. there's just nothing... it's a picture frame, it was a glass frame. i had family pictures in it.

it's all the stuff that can't be replaced. it hurts. grandmother's writing, pictures... oh, god. even old answering machines that we saved that we stopped using just so that we could hear grandparents' voices. it's all gone. meow, meow, meow! aaron's wife, heather, is trying to look for the family cats. i don't see anything. yeah, i'm trying to hear more than see. they had 15 of them, but none of them respond to the calls. it looked like it was one of the teenage ones, i or like teenage to adult. poor thing. her son austin finds one of the kittens. it didn't make it. i've never experienced anything like this, ever in my life, never. he sobs.

the grief is overwhelming for aaron. but the family knew living here was becoming increasingly risky. the climate here, you've lived here all your life. have you noticed it change? it has gotten a lot hotter. a lot hotter and a lot drier. a lot of people we talk to we're like, "should we try and rebuild, shall we stay?" and they say, "we're selling, we're getting out of here." the martinez family didn't have insurance. they didn'tjust lose memories — they lost everything. we're going to rebuild and we'll be stronger and smarter. but this loss hurts. it hurts a lot. what happened to the martinez family is a danger more and more californians are facing, as it gets drier and drier. james clayton, bbc news, mariposa county, california. one of the people who helped inspire the green movement — james lovelock — has died aged 103. the british scientist had warned that climate change could have a devastating impact on humanity. our environment analyst — roger harrabin — looks back at his life.

the earth — forjames lovelock, a planet with not only creatures and plants on it, but a complex, integrated system, where even the rocks interact with living things to maintain conditions for life. lovelock called it the gaia theory, a revolutionary idea named after the greek mother goddess of the earth. the gaia notion sees those two processes, that's to say, the evolution of life and the evolution of the planet as not two processes, but one single, tightly coupled process. born in letchworth, he became a conscientious objector in the war. ever maverick, ever restless. later, he worked out of a converted barn at his home in devon, first with research in medical science on the freezing of animal tissue.

and then in the �*60s, on space science for nasa looking for life on mars. there may be a kind of plant, an ice eater with fine root like probes searching not for liquid water, but searching the permafrost, reaching down to get at that ice. the multitalented lovelock made the ultra sensitive instruments to gather evidence and invented the equipment used to detect a manmade hole in the ozone layer over the antarctic. then you do believe in gaia? i believe that the earth goddess will defend itself against all dangers. including a man? man will always win against nature. lovelock�*s idea that the earth is a kind of single living organism made him a hero to the early green movement of the 19605 and seventies. so it was bound to be taken up as a kind of something almost spiritual for the green age

to hang on to. lovelock warned that damage to forests in particular was undermining the earth's capacity to regulate itself as carbon dioxide levels rise. but his support for nuclear power to combat climate change upset many of his own followers. the gaia theory was ridiculed by many scientists at the time. it is still contentious, but it's starting to slip into the academic mainstream. james lovelock lived to be over 100, still predicting an apocalyptic future for mankind. the british scientist — james lovelock — who's died at the age of 103. final preparations are under way for the 2022 commonwealth games — held this year in the english city of birmingham. over 11 days, more than 5000 athletes from 72 nations and territories will compete across 19 different sports.

this year's event is historic for a number of reasons. they'll feature the largest number of events for women and pa ra—sport athletes. it's the first multi—sport event to award more medals to women than men. and it's the first major multisport event that's carbon neutral. the opening ceremony is expected to play out to a stadium audience of 30,000. it'll celebrate the games — and propel birmingham onto a global stage. birmingham, is the uk's second largest city by population. it saw massive growth during the industrial revolution and is now a hub for higher education, commerce and art. the total cost of the event is expected to be around 0h... that's all the time we have for now. to stay with bbc world news.

hello there. the weather story's looking pretty benign for the next few days. we'll have very little wind around to move the weather along. but one thing you will notice over the next few days is that it'll be warming up, particularly across england and wales. most places will be dry, but there will be some showers around — increasingly so across the north and the west of the country as we move into the weekend. so, we've got this weak area of high pressure just to the east of the uk, rather cloudy high, drawing up some warmer air from the near continent. but there is a lot of cloud trapped underneath it, so a rather grey day, i think on thursday. showery bursts of rain continuing to affect parts of northern ireland, northern england, southern scotland, certainly through the morning, it'll tend to ease down into the afternoon. could see a few showers developing across western areas, most places will be dry. despite the cloud amounts, it'll feel warmer — 22—24 celsius in the south.

we could see 20 celsius or so in the central belt of scotland. so, it looks like it should be a dry affair for the commonwealth games' opening ceremony in birmingham, temperatures at around 19—20 celsius, so feeling quite mild. now, as we head through thursday night, it looks like most places will hold onto the cloud — again, the cloud will be thickest across parts of northern england, southern scotland, where we could see some splashes of rain. but for most places, it will be dry, and a milder night to come, lows of 12—14 celsius. so for friday, we start to see this area of low pressure pushing into the far northwest of the country. the breeze will be picking up here later in the day, but much of the uk will be under the influence of high pressure once again. so, we'll start off with quite a bit of cloud around friday morning across northern england, southern scotland. that should tend to fizzle away, and we could see the cloud melt away, as well. so, i think there's a greater chance of seeing the sunshine on friday. the odd shower will develop again into the afternoon, but most places will be dry, 25—28 celsius across england and wales, the low 20s across the north —

so feeling a lot warmer. saturday's another warm, muggy day, but we will have more cloud around outbreaks of rain affecting the north and the west of the country, as that weather front continues to push its way eastwards. very little getting into the southeast, the areas where we really do need the rainfall. again, it'll be another warm day — low 20s in the north, up to around 25—26 celsius across the southeast. it stays warm into sunday and monday. there's always the chance of rain in the north and the west, but tending to stay dry in the south and the east.

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.