welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: a fire at a russian ammunition depot is blamed for the evacuation of two border villages, as explosions are reported at an airfield in russian—occupied crimea. in ukraine, the un chief says any damage to a nuclear plant would be �*suicide�* — on a visit to lviv he calls for an end to fighting near the facility. but hopes for peace remain. there has been some progress. ukraine and russia still are not talking to each other but they could reach future agreements with the united nations and turkey as brokers

in the middle. also on the programme: a us judge unseals some documents that authorised the fbi to search donald trump's florida home. we'll get the latest from washington. we speak to the former australian prime minister kevin rudd on the tensions in the pacific between the us and china, and beijing's relationship with taiwan. japan launches a nationwide competition to try to enourage people in their 20s and 30s to drink more alcohol. that was fantastic. you can't buy that feeling, frankly. and striking gold: we hear from one of the british divers who helped locate a us world war i shipwreck that's been missing since 1917. live from our studio in

singapore, this is bbc news. it is newsday. singapore, this is bbc news. it is newsday-_ singapore, this is bbc news. it is newsday. hello and welcome to the programme. _ we start in ukraine, where explosions have been reported at a military airbase in russian—occupied crimea. the authorities say there's been no damage, and that a ukrainian drone has been shot down. it happened north of the city of sevastopol, at the belbek airbase. you'll remember another russian airbase in crimea was hit by explosions earlier this month, and separately, in russia itself, two villages close to the border with ukraine were evacuated after a fire broke out at an ammunition depot. the fire was less than 50 kilometres from the frontier. no casualties were reported. meanwhile the un secretary general says he's gravely concerned about nuclear safety. after talks with president

zelensky, antonio guterres said the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — seized by russia — must not be a target for military operations. turkey's president erdogan, who was also at the meeting, warned of the danger of "another chernobyl". mr guterres is travelling to the port city of odesa later on friday. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse reports. the hunt for a solution. featuring turkey's president erdogan, antonio guterres, the united nations chief, and ukraine's leader, volodymyr zelensky. one agenda item, russia's continued occupation of the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. there were repeated calls for a demilitarisation zone and for international inspectors to be let in. moscow has continually refused but ukraine is practising for a worst—case scenario. in an online post, staff there have described feeling powerless in the face of madness. agreement is urgently needed to establish zaporizhzhia as purely civilian infrastructure and to ensure the

safety of the area. the next agenda item seemed more positive. the only diplomatic breakthrough in this war. a grain deal which has and still is allowing ukraine to export it through the black sea. kyiv and moscow were urged to make sure it continues to succeed as it could be a long—term route to peace. today though we were reminded of ukraine's condition for that to happen. translation: i'm very surprised to hear that they are ready - for some kind of peace. the people who kill, rape, hit our civilian cities with cruise missiles every day cannot want peace. first they should leave our territory. while today hasn't brought much in terms of concrete outcomes, there has been some progress. ukraine and russia still are not talking to each other but they could reach future agreements with the united nations and turkey as brokers in the middle. for now, any hope is eclipsed

by the daily reality of this war. 17 people the latest to lose their lives in ukraine's second city kharkiv, in what authorities called one of their most tragic days. james waterhouse, bbc news in kyiv. i spoke earlier to angela stent. she's a senior fellow at the brookings institution. i started by asking for her analysis on the latest reports of explosions in crimea. i think the ukrainians are finally hitting the russians back where it really hurts. in crimea. the russians thought they had crimea secure and that they're having summer holidays and suddenly, ukrainians have shown that they can really damage russian assets there. airfields, ammunition dumps and it's really making the russians have to recalibrate what they're doing now. when we look at that recalibration, this is taking place against backdrop of increasing worries about the nuclear power

plant in zapori—cha; un sec gen is there any way out of this, two sides coming to an agreement? i wish they were, but the russians have recklessly used this nuclear power plant, the largest one in europe, as a military base, and they're firing from the nuclear power plant out into ukraine. and, of course, the ukrainians really cannot fire back because they would risk a major nuclear explosion. so it is a form of blackmail but the russians have refused to let the international atomic energy agency inspect there and talk to them, and i'm sure the secretary—general will continue to plead for that. let's just take a step back in terms of how this has changed the global shift in power dynamics and particularly looking at russia's sphere of influence, an area i know that you are well versed with. how do you think that's changed? putin has made

the choice with this unprovoked war to jettison any attempts at good relations with the collective west, by which i mean north america, europe, australia, new zealand, japan and south korea. and reallyjust turn to china and to the global south. and he has been quite successful in that because, china has neither condemned russia nor sanctioned russia. india, a democracy, a member of the quad and in partnership with the us and australia and japan, india has not condemned or sanctioned russia and is importing more oil than any other country. all of the other countries are the same, they have maintained this neutrality. many countries in the middle east, africa and even latin america, even mexico that are major trade part of the us. they are all taking a stance where they won't condemn russia and are neutral and so we see a new power blocs emerging from this.

that was angela stead. she is a senior fellow at the brookings institution. ajudge in florida has unsealed some of the documents which allowed fbi agents to search the mar—a—lago home of donald trump. it comes after a group of news organisations argued it was in the public interest to know more information about the search. earlier, i spoke to our washington correspondent chi chi izundu, and asked her what we have learned from the documents that have been unsealed so far. so, we've learned two very valuable things. the first is that two documents have been unsealed as part of today's court hearing. the first was why the government wanted the warrant and the affidavit, the statement of oath of the evidence that they gathered in order to get the warrant signed by a judge kept sealed, and it says there's a good cause because the integrity of the ongoing investigation

might be compromised and evidence might be destroyed. the second, if you like, more interesting piece of unsealing documentation that we've got from today's court hearing was a bit more detail on exactly what the government are accusing donald trump of. last week, let's skip back — the fbi went into the home on a search warrant of donald trump. on friday, we found out, as per the request of the department ofjustice, via court, the warrant had essentially the fbi agent had removed 11 sets of records from donald trump's mar—a—lago home, including some which were stamped top secret. the media organisations were not happy with that level of disclosure, so they went to court and that hearing was today, and we found out exactly what the fbi and the government were investigating donald trump for. last week, we were made

aware it was under the espionage act. today, we found out that they were investigating him for willful retention of national defence information, concealment or removal of government records and obstruction from the federal investigation. chi chi izundu there, a washington correspondent. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. a long—serving senior executive for donald trump's family business has admitted conspiring with the company in a 15—year tax fraud. allen weisselberg, who's 75, avoided paying tax on more than 1.5 million worth of unreported perks. under his plea deal, he will serve five months in prison and will have to testify against the company. the man accused of stabbing author salman rushdie in new york last week has pleaded not guilty to two charges in court. earlier. he faces charges of second—degree attempted murder and assault over the incident. he remains in a serious

condition in hospital. the white house has said it will make an additional 1.8 million monkeypox vaccines available by the start of next week in an effort to combat the outbreak. the vaccines will be given out in communities at high risk of contracting monkeypox. the us has now reported over 13,000 cases of the virus. let's ahead it to japan now. it has a rather unusual new strategy when it comes alcohol consumption. you would generally expect a government to promote less drinking, but injapan, the country's national tax agency has launched a nationwide competition, asking for ideas to encourage people in their 20s and 30s to drink more alcohol because it's keen to increase its revenue from alcohol tax. my colleague mariko oi has more.

for generations, people considered alcohol as part of their daily lives, even at work, believing that going out for drinks may help with business negotiations. but that has been changing because stagnant salaries mean japan's young adults are not drinking as much alcohol as their parents' generation. and according to the government figures, people are only drinking three quarters of what they used to in the mid—90s and that is affecting the country's budget. its alcohol tax revenue was already falling but in 2020, due to pandemic restrictions, it suffered the biggest fall in over three decades. keen to change that, the japanese government has now launched a nationwide competition called the sake viva, asking for ideas to encourage people in their 20s and 30s to drink more alcohol. not surprisingly, the competition has been criticised for promoting an unhealthy habit.

you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we hear from the former australian prime minister kevin rudd on the esclating tensions between china and taiwan. stay with us. washington, the world's most political city, is today assessing the political health of the world's most powerful man. indeed i did have a relationship with ms lewinsky that was not appropriate. in fact, it was wrong. in south africa, 97 people have been killed today, in one of the worst days of violence between rival black groups. over the last 10 days, 500 have died. crowd chant: czechoslovakia must be free! _ man: czechoslovakia must be free! - crowd chant: czechoslovakia must be free! _ russia is observing a national day of mourning for the 118 submariners who died on board the kursk. we are all with them now, within our hearts.

the pope has celebrated mass before a congregation of more than 2.5 million people in his hometown of krakow. "stay with us, stay with us," - chanted this ocean of humanity. "well, well," joked the pope. "so, you want mej to desert rome?" this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani, in singapore. our headlines: a fire at a russian ammunition depot is blamed for the evacuation of two border villages, as explosions are reported at an airfield in russian—occupied crimea. a usjudge unseals some documents that authorised the fbi to search donald trump's florida home. we'll get the latest from washington. from global trade to influence in the pacific, the us and china are often at odds with policies that have seen tit for tat

tariffs, and shows of military might in the taiwan and south china sea, over the past decade and more. and now, increased tensions over taiwan, which has found itself, again, right in the middle of current us—china relations. chances of a military conflict are higher than ever. that is according to experts. but earlier i spoke to kevin rudd, president of the asia society and former australian prime minister, who said that doesn't have to be the case. with increasing difficulty and the reason is that xijinping wants to retake taiwan. he is the first chinese political leader to have announced a timetable for doing that, albeit by 20119. but most previous political chinese leaders have left this in an indefined space in the future. chinese military preparations are under way. financial economic preparations are under way. and the united states and its

allies are pushing back. i think the problem with the pelosi visit was that it went to a core elemental sensitivity in the relationship, which is whether china any longer believes the united states is supporting a one china policy, whether the us is departing from that and, in their perspective, whether the us is becoming more explicit about its likely military intervention in support of an increasingly independent taiwan. so, when you look at the situation, and i have heard from lots of asian diplomats, as i am sure you have as well, kevin, that it appears what washington is doing, either by design or by accident, is to push china further into a corner and that increases the risk of tensions? well, the truth is, xijinping has also changed the gameplan. let's be very clear about that. previous chinese leaders have not started to attach timelines for "resolving the taiwan issue". he has upped the scale and intensity of military operations

in and around taiwan, and the level of economic leverage being applied against the island is now significant. the us is forcefully pushing back. of course, my argument is that to preserve strategic stability in the taiwan straits, what we need to do is do everything we can to preserve the status quo. and my argument is that you don't do that by fiddling around with the symbols of the one china policy. that is why i have never been a fan of speaker pelosi's visit because it upsets the symbols of the relationship, whereas the substance of what we should be doing in relation to taiwan is continuing to augment taiwan's ability to deter a future military strike by china against taiwan. you know, kevin, in your book, i believe that you have said that geopolitical disaster is avoidable and the way that you have described it is something that you are calling "managed strategic competition" — what does that look like? well, at present we have got unmanaged strategic competition, which is no rules of the road, no guardrails,

it is kind of push and shove. i don't know the last time you saw kids in a playground playing push and shove... i have got two kids so, yes quite often, actually laughs. i now have three grandkids and so i observed this a bit. it is all fine and dandy until one falls over and then it escalates. that is in geopolitics what we have got right at the moment, with too much metal on metal, in the south china sea, in and around taiwan, aircraft, ships and the rest. managed strategic competition says basic guardrails or rules of the road around five sets of strategic redlines, led by taiwan, between the two sides so that you don't accidentally tripwire into crisis, conflict and war. and the rest of the relationship can be conducted as nonlethal strategic competition. the rest of foreign policy, the rest of economic policy and even the ideological fight as to who shapes the next international system. but let's face it, on the domestic front,

both these countries are facing political pressures. right, we have the terms coming up in the us. xijinping has got the party congress towards the end of the year. is there the will, do you think, politically, for that kind of negotiation, compromise, sensible conversation? in my post political life i kick around a bit, ok. i am sort of an australian at large, on the loose. so in running an american think tank, i spent a fair bit of time in washington on zoom, and not recently visiting beijing, but prior to that spending a lot of time there as well and hopefully again soon. i do not sense, when you get down to basics in beijing or washington that there is an appetite for war. the risk however a real concern of war by accident. at least for the rest of this decade. by next decade, xijinping may think he is militarily and economically prepared to launch a strike. the purpose of my book is to provide something of an outline, something of a potential joint strategic framework which may reduce

the risk of accidental crisis, escalation, conflict and war over the next seven years. i do hope the two sides are reading that or if they haven't already, reading it soon, kevin. just away from the us—china relations for now, talking about a subject that has dominated headlines back at home where you're from in australia, i think i would be remiss not to address this. you know, we have the former prime minister, scott morrison, in the headlines this week because of the fact that he secretly assigned himself all of these different ministerial positions. what do you make of that? do you think you should resign as mp? look, i will leave this to prime minister albanese, my successor as australia's labor prime minister of australia, and he is seeking to assemble all the facts as to what transpired, how manyjoint portfolios the prime minister secretly assigned himself in the past, etc. but the bottom line this is not just politically odd. in australia's 120 years plus of federated political history, as a robust democracy,

this is plain bizarre. kevin rudd. the president of the asia society and former australian prime minister. to algeria now which has been ravaged by wildfires this summer. at least 38 people are believed to have died and hundreds others were injured in forest fires that swept through 1a districts of northern algeria. it's among several north african countries suffering the effects of a record heatwave. the bbc�*s bassam banouini has more. i think cloud of white billowing smoke from forest fire raging in the city of el tarf, northern nigeria, near the tunisian border. firefighters have been battling a string of blazes fuelled by drought and string heatwave which have killed 38 people and left destruction in their wake. deadly forest fires and become an annual occurrence into the north african country, where climate change is turning large

areas into a tinderbox. local media reported people had been burnt to death in a bus near the city of 100,000 residents. state television reported this morning that prime minister aymen benabderrahmane was visiting the area. according to the country's interior minister kamel beldjoud 106,000 the country's interior minister kamelbeldjoud106,000 coconut in algeria since early august, destroying 1000 hectares of woodland. he said some had been caused by arson. the sense but a repeat of scenes last year which killed 90 people and ravaged one hundred thousand hectares. this catastrophe provoked bitter criticism of authorities over the lack of firefighting aircraft. one specialist, who asked not to be named, said that in the 1980s the country had 22 aircraft for battling forest fires but that

they had been sold on the cheap without any alternative solution being proposed. kamel beldjoud they have rented a plane but it broke down and is not expected to be functional again until saturday. bassam banouini, bbc news the british divers who helped discover a us shipwreck from world war i, that had been missing under the atlantic ocean since 1917, have said they "struck gold". the divers located the missing navy destroyer uss jacob jones last week a0 miles off the coast of the isles of scilly. jenny kumah has been talking to one of the divers. over 100 metres down and over 100 years after sinking, this is the moment when a team of divers found the final resting place of the uss jacob jones. it was a moment of pure joy, after months of research and planning. when i saw that bell and i saw

the letters jacob on it, and i knew that all the work and all the time that had been spent getting there and getting us in the water and the big team effort that that had taken and we had cracked the mystery, that was fantastic. you can't, you know, you can't buy that feeling, frankly. the us destroyer was the first ever to be sunk by enemy fire, when on the 6th of december 1917, she was torpedoed by a german u—boat. she sank in deep water south of the isles of scilly. so this is the piece of specialist equipment i use to dive to jacob jones. the team made the discovery despite challenging conditions. all the way during the dive, the current was running, which made it quite difficult for us. the first thing that i saw was a boiler. there's different types of boilers on ships, and this one was quite distinctive, and i knew it was the same type from the jacob jones. some were saved after the german u—boat commander signalled american forces. it's been reported that he did this because he knew

the crew didn't have a chance to call for help. but 64 american sailors lost their lives. their names are commemorated here at the brookwood american cemetery, in surrey. it's nice that we know where this one is. maritime historians described this as a significant discovery. the poignant image of the ship's bell sat amongst the wreckage of a ship which is laying under the seas for 105 years, that brings a lump to my throat. and i remember those brave men doing what they were trying to do to assist the flow of supplies to the united kingdom. because of the depth of the wreck, the team were only able to spend 20 minutes exploring the site, the divers plan to return, and if the us government grants them permission, they'd love to raise the bell as a tribute to those who lost their lives. jenny kumah, bbc news.

that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. hello there. the weather is still looking quite mixed, really, over the coming few days. we end the week with some warm spells of sunshine, but there will be a few showers blown in, mainly towards northwestern parts of the uk. towards the southeast, on thursday, temperatures reached 27 in central london and 28 at heathrow airport in the sunshine — that sunshine was ahead of this band of cloud that brought some patchy rain. and that cloud and patchy rain is heading towards the southeast at the moment. it will keep the temperatures up here by the end of the night. but clearer skies will follow to the north, those numbers dropping away to 11—12 celsius. and you may get a view of the northern lights in scotland, maybe the far north of england and northern ireland. some early rain here in the southeast corner

of england and cloud — that soon moves away, sunshine comes through. cloud will tend to build up a bit and, as the wind picks up in scotland and northern ireland, will blow in some blustery showers. here, the odd showers possible across england and wales, but on the whole it looks dry, some sunshine. temperatures similar to what we had on thursday — could make 20 celsius in eastern scotland and eastern parts of northern ireland. low—to—mid—20s across england and wales. now we still have an area of low pressure to the north of the uk. around the base of that, this weather front is pushing in from the atlantic, and that means we start the weekend with some cloud and rain in scotland and northern ireland. but it does move through, and we'll get some sunshine following, a few showers into the northwest. this narrow band of rain gets stuck across northern england. to the south, there could be some spells of sunshine and maybe 1—2 light showers, but again, it's generally dry, and those temperatures not really changing much as we head into saturday afternoon. second half of the weekend, and remember, everything is sort of coming in from the west — this is where our weather is coming from, and we've got some more weather fronts, some thickening cloud

tending to come in from the atlantic, slowly but surely. and things are slowing down a bit, really. so we start dry, bright, some sunshine on sunday. and with that cloud coming in steadily from the west during the day, the winds probably a bit lighter on sunday, and a bit of rain coming into some western areas later on. if anything, temperatures may be a shade lower on sunday — 18 central belt of scotland, 2a london and the home counties. now the jet stream is sitting right over the uk at the moment. that's bringing the unsettled weather. into next week, the jet stream heads further north, and that allows some warmer weather to arrive, especially in the southeast.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour straight after this programme. oh, wow! look at the size of this place! this is tokyo stadium, and it was home to the football, the rugby and the pentathlon during the olympics, and i'm glad to finally be here. japan's delayed summer of sport finally got under way in 2021. my name's steve brown, and i was supposed to come over