welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... normal air traffic operations are slowly resuming in the us after flights were halted with questions being raised on what caused the fault. tens of thousands of ambulance workers and call handlers go on strike in england and wales. in what will be seen as another move to counter china in east asia, the uk and japan sign a major new defence agreement. and sharp spending cuts and huge tax hikes in sri lanka, as the government struggles to pay salaries and pensions.

live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we begin in america where aviation authorities are still trying to find out why a safety messaging system failed, grounding all departing flights for more than an hour early on wednesday. the white house says there is no evidence of a cyber attack at this point. the us transport secretary said the federal aviation administration must find out why backup systems didn't prevent the failure. our north america correspondent gary o'donaghue reports. it was in the early hours that the problems began to emerge with the notam system, which warns pilots of any dangers before they take off. byjust after 7:00am, the federal aviation authority was ordering all carriers

across the us to ground their planes untilfurther notice, causing chaos for early morning travellers. i'm a little annoyed. i feel bad for the people who are actually sitting on planes right now. i mean, we're at least lucky that we're still in the airport and if i truly want it to, i could go back home. you would not think that this could happen in this day and age, you know, with all the money that's pumped into transportation. but here we are again. in a tweet, the white house said the president had been informed and that there was no evidence that a cyber attack was responsible at that point. thousands of flights were delayed, affecting all airlines from coast to coast. the all—clear was given around 9am. by that time, huge backlogs had occurred. the transportation secretary said the problems had resulted

from irregularities in the safety messages being transferred to pilots. and it was important to find out why the usual redundancies in the system hadn't prevented the failure when there was a problem when there was a problem with a government system, we're going to own it. we're going to find it and we're going to fix it. my top priority right now, now that the system is working again as of about nine this morning, is to understand the root cause, understand how it could have led to this level of disruption and understand how to make sure that it does not happen again. the transportation department has begun an inquiry and a senate committee has said it will do the same. given the disruption that's been caused and the fact that the faa doesn't currently have a permanent administrator in post, answers will be demanded as soon as possible. harry o'donohue, bbc news. to the uk now where the national health service is facing the prospects of more strikes by staff after 1a trade unions said they would no longer work with the nhs pay review body for next year's awards. the news came as ambulance crews in england and wales took strike action on wednesday

for the second time in the uk's winter period. they're campaining for better pay and conditions. and this time they've been joined by call handlers, prompting fears of significant impact to services. our health editor hugh pym has more details. pickets out at dawn in newport, south wales. ambulance staff on strike — members of the gmb union. in gateshead, they had vocal support on the unison picket line. 0h, bless you. and in lincoln, strikers were brought refreshments by the public. the military presence was clear, too, in plymouth and other parts of the country, acting as drivers and in support roles. horns honk. unions have agreed that strikers will leave picket lines for emergencies and some urgent cases, but patients with less serious illness and injuries will be told to make their own way to hospital.

scott, who's an emergency medical technician, explained why he was on strike. we're here because there has been lack of funding for many years now. the services are struggling and patients, ultimately, are suffering. enough is enough now. harriet, who is 22, is a paramedic. she says it's all about patient care. it is frustrating because you feel empathy for the patients. that elderly patient who is lying on our bed. they are not comfortable. they're getting pressure sores, they're thirsty, they are hungry. the hospital can only feed and make so many cups of teas before you just run out of things to say. you can only apologise so many times before itjust becomes worthless. the government wants new laws to ensure minimum levels of service during strikes in essential public services, including ambulances. and that provoked clashes at prime minister's questions. all we're saying is that

in these emergency services, patients should be able to rely on a basic level of life—saving care. why is he against that, mr speaker? there's not a minimum level of service any day, because they've broken the nhs! so, where does this dispute involving ambulance staff and other health workers go from here? as things stand, there are more strike dates on the calendar this month, including nurses next week. it all depends on whether there's any progress with pay talks. some union leaders were a little more optimistic after talks with the secretary of state on monday and they're anticipating some sort of follow—up. we're expecting some news over the next couple of days about what that follow—up will look like. i'm always keen to maintain optimism, but, you know, the level of progress will really depend on what next steps he sets out.

but there's still stalemate over money, with the government saying a new offer is only possible for the next financial year. call handlers who are unison members took strike action for the first time in this dispute after working limited hours providing basic cover. at london ambulance service, they were applauded by colleagues as they walked out this afternoon. call volumes in the system were said to be lower than usual, though nhs leaders are concerned about a possible sharp rise tomorrow. hugh pym, bbc news. the family of a british—iranian dual national sentenced to death in iran has told the bbc that authorities are preparing to execute him. alireza akbari was arrested more than two years ago and accused of spying for the uk, which he denied. the foreign office has urged iran to release him and say they are supporting his family.

japan's prime minister has embarked on a tour of g7 capitals as part of tokyo's efforts to strengthen its alliances to face the challenges posed by china. fumio kishida held talks with british prime minister rishi sunak in london and signed a defence agreement allowing the uk and japan to deploy forces in one another�*s countries. downing street hailed it as the most important defence treaty between london and tokyo in more than a century. japan signed a similar accord with australia last january, and tokyo has recently overhauled its defence and security policy. well, to discuss the significance of the treaty between the uk and japan, i'm joined by simon chelton, associate fellow at security think—tank rusi and a former defence attache in tokyo. talk asked why this defence is so

significant. talk asked why this defence is so siunificant. , , .., talk asked why this defence is so siunificant. , , .. ., significant. this is called a reciprocal _ significant. this is called a reciprocal access - significant. this is called a l reciprocal access agreement significant. this is called a - reciprocal access agreement which allows british forces operating in japan to be protected under british law and likewise japanese forces operating in the uk to operate under japanese law and that also means when they might be operating together in the middle, in the indian ocean or elsewhere, they are able to work together without jeopardising each other perfect safety. jeopardising each other perfect safe . ., . ., ~' safety. how much do you think the role of china _ safety. how much do you think the role of china has _ safety. how much do you think the role of china has had _ safety. how much do you think the role of china has had an _ safety. how much do you think the role of china has had an influencel role of china has had an influence on all of this, given that we have heard comments, haven't we, very recently in fact from the us secretary of state antony blinken about china's rising influence in this part of the world. the about china's rising influence in this part of the world.— about china's rising influence in this part of the world. the rise of china clearly _ this part of the world. the rise of china clearly has _ this part of the world. the rise of china clearly has created - this part of the world. the rise of china clearly has created a - this part of the world. the rise of| china clearly has created a certain amount of reaction injapan which has changed its defence policies. you mentioned earlier about quite a number of changes in the policies they announced at the end of last year but this has been a gradual change over some considerable time

and the uk and japan have been getting much closer over that time because they find themselves both as island nations and as close eye lies, the united states, but they have much in common. the change in the northeast asian security environment, including not only china but north korea is one impetus that has been moving japan forward in the way it is changing its position, but there is a change in the global environment as well and ukjapan interest seem to be much more closely aligned. uk japan interest seem to be much more closely aligned.— uk japan interest seem to be much more closely aligned. indeed, and in terms of how — more closely aligned. indeed, and in terms of how china _ more closely aligned. indeed, and in terms of how china might _ more closely aligned. indeed, and in terms of how china might view - more closely aligned. indeed, and in terms of how china might view this | terms of how china might view this increasing closeness between the uk and japan and other g7 companies, what you think beijing's reaction might be? i what you think bei'ing's reaction miaht be? ., �* ~ ., ., what you think bei'ing's reaction miahtbe? .,�* ~ ., ., might be? i don't know, i do say bei'ina might be? i don't know, i do say beijing will— might be? i don't know, i do say beijing will make _ might be? i don't know, i do say beijing will make its _ might be? i don't know, i do say beijing will make its own - might be? i don't know, i do say i beijing will make its own statement at some stage but i don't see there is anything aggressive or unduly assertive between this, it is just two countries that value the rule of law and the global norms and values,

recognising they have the opportunity to work together and do so in a more effective manner than they might have been able to do so before. �* ,, . , before. and specifically with re . ards before. and specifically with regards to — before. and specifically with regards to how _ before. and specifically with regards to how japan - before. and specifically with regards to how japan was i before. and specifically with l regards to how japan was like defence and security policies are changing, what is your sense of where they are at right now? well, ja an has where they are at right now? well, japan has very _ where they are at right now? well, japan has very gradually _ where they are at right now? -ii japan has very gradually changed his defence position over many years, and when they published a whole range of new policies in december last year, they identified a number of new such as precision strike long—range weapons that they had decided not to use before, they had said those sorts of weapons may now be needed to help further defence posture. but i think if you look at this carefully, this has been a gradual and fairly measured response to what they perceive to be a change in the regional balance within their region. in the regional balance within their reuion. ,, ., ., ., ,, i. in the regional balance within their reuion. ,, ., ., ., ,, region. simon chelton, thank you so much forjoining _ region. simon chelton, thank you so much forjoining us _ region. simon chelton, thank you so much forjoining us on _ region. simon chelton, thank you so much forjoining us on the _ much forjoining us on the programme.

to sri lanka next, where the government is planning big spending cuts, saying that it has barely enough money to pay salaries and pension of public servants. all government departments have been ordered to make a 5% reduction in spending. the international monetary fund has agreed a bail—out loan of nearly $3 billion but it wants sri lanka to raise taxes and cut public services. ben chu reports. six months ago in sri lanka, amid sovereign debt default and economic chaos, there was a revolution. a new president has since been installed. an international monetary fund bailout has been agreed. but half a year on, are the lives of ordinary sri lankans actually any better?

is a new day dawning for the country's agricultural sector, on which a quarter of the population depends? sri lankan tea pickers like these earn a day rate of around 1,000 rupees, a little less than three usd. and though inflation in the country has eased slightly since last year, food prices in sri lanka last month were still 65% higher than a year earlier. translation: rice, sugar- and everything else is expensive. even bus fares are expensive. everything is a problem now. i can't say we have enough food. i'm afraid for my child's future. more than eight million people, more than a third of sri lanka's population, are today estimated to be food insecure by the united nations. the fuel queues that snaked around

this country six months ago have gone thanks to a digital rationing system. tourists are returning. a different world from the capital colombo can be found a two—hour drive south down the coast. a million people in sri lanka are estimated to be reliant on fishing for their living. the cost of boat fuel for these fisherfolk in beruwala is still four times higher than before the crisis struck last year, making each trip into an economic gamble. translation: sometimes there will be enough fish i and sometimes there won't be. there should be at least 100 to 150 kilograms of fish to break even. yes, i'm worried if this continues in the same way. places like this feel like the sharp end of sri lanka's economic crisis at the moment. it's clear that in some parts of the country, life has got somewhat better in recent months, but in places like this, it's reallyjust as painful as it was before the fall of the government.

after a bad storm, there's often an extensive repairjob. this is a lesson a still economically broken sri lanka knows well. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... more torrential rain and storms in californi wreak damage and put millions of people at risk. day one of operation desert storm to force the iraqis out of kuwait has seen the most intense air attacks since the second world war. tobacco is one of the biggest industries but the industry is nervous of this report, this may tend to make people want to stop smoking cigarettes.

there is not a street that is unaffected. buildings were demolished. this woman said she had been given no help and advice by the authorities. she stood outside the ruins of our business. tens of thousands of black children in south africa have taken advantage of new laws and enrolled at formerly white schools. the night sees the 9000th performance of the mousetrap. when they heard of her death today, the management considered whether to cancel tonight's performance but agatha christie would have been the last person to want such a thing. this is newsday on the bbc, i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines... normal air traffic operations are slowly resuming in the us after flights were halted with questions being raised on what caused the fault. tens of thousands of ambulance

workers and call handlers go on strike in england and wales. to the conflict in ukraine now — and russia's defence ministry says fighting is continuing in soledar in eastern ukraine, despite earlier claims by the head of the russian mercenary group, wagner, that his forces had taken the town. ukraine's president zelensky said in a video address in the past hour that the battle was on—going. the town is seen as strategically significant — as it could be used by russian forces as a place from which to launch a fresh assault on the city of bakhmut, which has been the scene of fierce fighting for weeks. the spokesperson for ukraine's eastern military command says the intensity of battles there can be compared to bloody trench warfare in world war two. our ukraine correspondent, james waterhouse has this report. distant artillery fire. the situation in soledar

depends on who you ask. it's under control as of this morning, according to this ukrainian commander. "they will never break us", says his injured comrade. "we are winning". but if you ask these two, "wagner are clearing the city," they say. russian, yes, but not from the regular army. they're from a private military group called wagner, a network of mercenaries who do a lot of russia's fighting. its boss, yevgeny prigozhin, has recently recruited convicts from russian jails, and they've been spearheading the attack on soledar, claiming to now be in full control. we chat to one ukrainian soldier on the front to see if that's the case. don't believe russian propaganda. it's not true. bakhmut and soledar

have ukrainian control. kyiv has described the battle for soledar and bakhmut as the bloodiest scenario yet. and that's all we can say with real certainty. small amounts of territory are being fiercely fought over, and the human cost is huge. but the kremlin is less keen to acknowledge that, instead accusing ukraine of exaggerating the situation to secure more military support, which is continuing to arrive. on a visit to western ukraine, poland's president duda is the latest to announce the supply of tanks. volodymyr zelensky wants more to follow suit. in russia, there seems to be division. the kremlin claims there is still fighting in soledar, at odds with wagner's take. translation: i understand that the situation in - the new entities is difficult and hostilities continue in some territories.

peaceful life has not been restored everywhere, and the safety of people has not been ensured. moscow is continuing to claim everything is going to plan in its quest to occupy the eastern donbas region. you wonder what will be left, whether it succeeds or not. james waterhouse, bbc news, kyiv. in other news for you today — the rock guitaristjeff beck has died at the age of 78. beck — who played with the yardbirds and led thejeff beck group — died on tuesday. often described as one of the greatest guitarists of all time — he won eight grammys. beck — whose fingers and thumbs were famously insured for £7 million — was known as a keen innovator. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines... reports from france say a suspected attacker who stabbed and injured six

people at paris's gare du nord rail station on wednesday has been identified as a libyan national, aged in his 20s, who was due to be deported. police are still investigating the motive but are not believed to be treating it as terror related. the suspect was shot three times and taken to hospital with serious injuries. police across brazil have been ordered to prevent road blockades you and the invasion of public buildings, after supporters of the former president jair bolsonaro called for new protests. officials say they are determined to repeat —— prevent any repeat of that disorder. a supreme courtjudge also ordered the social media service telegram to block accounts being used to co—ordinate demonstrations. the world health organization has recommended that indian—made

cough syrups should not be prescribed for children in uzbekistan after they were linked to the deaths of 19 children. tests by the uzbek health ministry showed that the two syrups contained a toxic substance, ethylene glycol. there's been no immediate response from the indian manufacturer, marion biotech. britain's culture minister has said the disputed parthenon marbles belong in the uk and shouldn't be returned to greece from where they were removed in the 19th century. michelle donelan�*s comments in a bbc interview followed reports that the british museum is close to agreeing a deal to return the ancient artworks. torrential rain continues to fall in californina as the latest storm sweeps in from the pacific. mudslides have cut off roads and communities. at least 17 people have died in the american state after a month of heavy rain and flooding. the us president has declared a state of emergency. here's james clayton. santa cruz is famous for surf, but not quite like this. its historic pier has been smashed,

beach—side houses destroyed. this is supposed to be a picturesque beach, but it's absolutely covered in detritus, wood, even entire trees that have been swept into the sea by swollen rivers. the president has declared a state of emergency across the state, and here in los angeles, two vehicles plunged into this huge sinkhole that opened up on the road as a result of flooding. local media reported that two people were taken to hospital with minor injuries. the small town of felton near santa cruz has been under water as the local river burst its banks. karen hendrick realised the water was coming up to her house too late. she couldn't get out, stuck above the water as it rose around her home. is it scary when you're surrounded by floodwater like that? this was the first time that i was scared, yeah. in the past, i always thought, you know, "oh, we'll get three, four, even five feet of floodwater come through". this one didn't seem like it was going to stop. and i was imagining, you know,

10—12 feet of water, so that was pretty scary. 2a hours ago, the floodwater was about up here to my chest. it's now receded, but what its left is this thick, glutinous mud, which has covered what is, in fact, a paved road. and of course, the mud hasn'tjust stuck to the streets. it's covered the inside of people's homes, too. audrey baxter is a student who lives in the town. she lost childhood memories. it'sjust something i used to read as a child, and it's alljust soaked all the way through. many other areas across california are being deluged — floods, landslides and blackouts, the governor of california scrambling for resources and worried about what's to come. have you ever seen anything like it? not at this scale. i mean, i've seenl isolated incidents. these experiences are| unique in that respect. they're novel, but they're also predictable because this - is our reality with this weather whiplash and the extremes. .

and it's likely we'll see more of this in our future. - and with more storms forecast to hit the coast, california is braced for yet more rain and more damage to come. james clayton, bbc news, santa cruz. take a look at this picture posted on social media by naomi osaka. it has been viewed 10 million times and has been viewed 10 million times and has prompted three and a half thousand replies, mostly congratulations of course, announcing her pregnancy, the tennis star doesn't hide her competitive straight saying she will be back on the court next year in time for the australian open but says one thing she's looking forward to is for her kid to watch one of her matches and

tell someone, that is my mum. very big congratulations to herfrom us at the newsday team. that brings us to the end of the programme. thank you forjoining us. hello there. we are stuck in repeat mode, i'm afraid, which means yet more wet and windy weather to come. in actual fact, to close out this week, it's going to be a case of showers, longer spells of rain at times and the winds will always be a feature. now, for the time being, we've got some wet weather pushing its way across england and wales, with the heaviest pulses of rain across south wales and parts of south—west england. it could lead to some localised flooding here, accompanied by gale force gusts of winds as well. so that weather front will linger first thing thursday morning. another area of low pressure nudging into the far north—west of scotland as we go through the morning will gradually bring wetter and increasingly windy weather here as well. sandwiched in between the two,

there will be some drier, brighter interludes, and eventually that rain in the south will start to pull away. wind gusts, though, quite a feature, in excess of 40, close to 50 mph on exposed coasts at times, so a blustery afternoon. a south—westerly wind direction, so on your thermometer, temperatures will peak at about 12—13 degrees, but it may well feel a bit cooler if you're caught in the cloud, the wind and the rain. as we go through the night, we could see strengthening winds for a time as that low pressure drifts its way eastwards, so severe gales not out of the question along the southern flank of that low. with the cloud and the rain around, temperatures will hold up above freezing, but that low pressure will start to pull away on friday, over to scandinavia. and we start to see the isobars open up. this little bump, this ridge of high pressure will quieten things down for friday, although the wind direction�*s swinging back around to more of a northerly or north—westerly, so a slightly cooler source. but there will be some

sunshine around on friday. it will be a drier day, just a few scattered showers driven along the coast by the strength of those winds. top temperatures in scotland between five and eight degrees. highest values further south, perhaps just scraping into double figures once again. more wet and windy weather arrives, though, in time for the weekend. once again, a low centred to the far north will introduce some cooler weather as well, some wintry showers to higher ground, but there is a chance that we are going to see some pretty wet weather on saturday. fingers crossed, something just that little bit drier as we move into sunday.

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