welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... a day of mourning declared in nepal as at least 68 people die in a plane crashjust a mile short of the airport. everybody is confused because this pilot is one of the most experienced and well—respected pilots of nepal. ukraine suffers its worst day of russian shelling in weeks, as nato promises they will soon receive more weapons from western europe. a major disaster is declared in california — which has been hit by a succession of severe storms. chat gpt — the ai app that has educators up in arms. we speak to a cyber security expert. and the australian open tennis

tournament gets under way — with novak djokovic chasing a tenth title a year after he was deported for breaching covid rules. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news, it's a newsday. hello and welcome. we begin in nepal, where a day of mourning will be observed after officials say at least 68 people have died in a plane crash in the central part of the country. there were 72 people on board the aircraft, which came down just a mile from its destination. the plane was operated by yeti airlines and was flying from kathmandu airport to the tourist town of pokhara. it came down in the gorge of seti, a mile from the runway at pokhara airport. from kathmandu, our correspondent rajini vaidyanathan sent this report.

footage thought to show the final moments of yeti airlines flight 691. first, you see the plane veer off course. then you hear it. thunderous roar a raging inferno. the twin—engine plane crashed into a gorge, close to the tourist town of pokhara, minutes before it was due to land at the recently opened airport there. translation: we heard a loud, thunderous crash and raised our| heads to see what had happened. we saw a lot of smoke and realised it was a plane crash and we rushed to the site. chaos and confusion, as some sprayed water to douse the flames. but efforts to save the 72 on board were in vain. as the day drew on, a grim sight... bodies pulled from below in red and black plastic bags,

then carried to higher ground. translation: security agencies have to accept this challenge. i we are actively working to retrieve and identify the bodies as soon as possible and hand them over to the families. tonight, some of the victims have been identified. the plane's co—pilot, anju khatiawada, and journalist tribhuvan paudel. his brother told the bbc he felt airlines in nepal don't take safety issues seriously. the plane took off from here at kathmandu airport earlier this morning. tomorrow, the bodies of some of the victims are expected to return back here. monday's also been declared a national day of mourning in nepal. it's unclear still what caused the crash, but this himalayan nation has a tragic history of fatal airline accidents. as a nation mourns, some are asking if enough is being done to ensure the country's skies are safe.

in the last few decades, hundreds have died in air crashes in nepal. as families grieve, they also want answers. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, kathmandu. aviation safety expert ron bartsch told me his preliminary thoughts a little earlier. in terms of footage that i've seen, it would appear that the aircraft has entered into what's known as an aerodynamic stall, and at such low level, it would be impossible to recover from a stall. i know, as you point out, very difficult to really ascertain what we know at this point, so much information still coming through, but perhaps you can talk us through the safety record of this particular type of aircraft? look, the atr 72 is an incredibly reliable aircraft. it's used extensively throughout the world

and, indeed, here in australia and throughout the southeast asia region, so you wouldn't expect that, mechanically, unless there was an engine failure, perhaps, that it would be a mechanicalfault, but if there had been something causing the aircraft to stall and it's obviously not keeping enough airspeed, it could be very much related to the fact that the pilot may have misidentified the runway and then tried to turn quickly, and because of the strong winds that are in the area of nepal, it could be a factor that may be one of the contributing factors to this awful accident. yeah, ron, on that, what about the conditions in nepal in terms of flying? you know, what's known about that and what's that like for pilots? look, yes, in those regions i've seen some of the airports

are incredibly challenging in terms of the slope and also very short distance. also, a lot of the airports are at a very high elevation — this particular elevation is going 800 meters — but you've got to remember that this aircraft was fully laden with 72 passengers, which is the maximum for that aircraft, so that also has an impact on the stalling speed of the aircraft. so as the weight of the aircraft increases, so too does the stalling speed. some breaking news this hour — there are reports of an earthquake of magnitude six that struck northern sumatra in indonesia. according to the european—mediterranean seismological centre, the quake was at a depth of 80 kilometres. so far we have no further information regarding damage or casualties.

as and when we get more updates, we will be sure to bring you those right here on bbc news, so stay tuned for that. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines... police say a seven—year—old girl remains in a critical condition after a shotgun was fired from a moving car outside a church in central london yesterday. five others were also hurt in the attack near euston station. it happened as crowds left a memorial service for a woman and her daughter. several communities in latvia are on high alert as a mass of ice threatens to flood a dam built to protect homes. the daugava river usually freezes over in winter, but this year has stayed moving with an icy mass on top, threatening the structural integity of the dam. officials have said the situation is stable, but dangerous. a man has been arrested on suspicion of a terror offence after traces of uranium were found in a package at heathrow airport last month. counter—terrorism officers searched an address

in cheshire on saturday. the man, who is in his 60s, has been released on bail until april. i want to turn to the war in ukraine now — and the mayor of dnipro has warned there may not be any more survivors after a missile strike on an apratment block at the weekend. at least 30 people were killed — more than a0 are still missing. meanwhile, the head of nato has promised that ukraine will soon receive more heavy weaponry from western countries. the uk has already confirmed it would send 14 tanks, but germany has been reluctant to do so. our correspondent andrew harding reports on the efforts of ukrainian forces on the front line, and he starts with the latest attacks on dnipro. this was last night — yet another ukrainian apartment block devoured by a huge russian missile. this morning, rescue workers in the city of dnipro were still bringing out

a few more survivors. a young woman, katerina, lifted carefully from the ruins and out into the freezing daylight. she and her neighbours are victims of a brutal and blundering russian campaign that shows no signs of easing. further east in the donbas today, we drove towards the front lines, through more towns and villages targeted daily by the kremlin�*s artillery. and yet, civilians still cling on here. "aren't you scared?" i ask. "sure, wouldn't you be?" he replies. "how can we not be scared living in the donbas?" "it's terrifying" she adds, "especially for the children. "we've got used to it." but russia's military is struggling too. even closer to the front, in territory recently liberated by ukrainian forces, we come across acres of destroyed russian hardware.

the russians have experienced so many losses in the past few months, and yet despite all this, they still have far more men, far more equipment than the ukrainians do — which is why the fate of this conflict still hangs very much in the balance. to tip that balance, ukraine needs more western weapons like this one. we've been given rare access to a powerful british supplied rocket launcher hidden in a forest. as we arrive, the unit is rushing to prepare for another mission. they're getting ready to fire now for the third time this morning, attacking russian targets along the front line, just a few kilometers from here. these weapons, these foreign weapons, have made an extraordinary difference for ukraine in this conflict, but it's not enough any more.

a hurried launch, then an even quicker departure, before russian artillery tries to target our position. back in the forest, the commander — face hidden — talks of a catastrophic shortage of equipment, of tanks, weapons and more basic supplies. "western help has got us this far" he says, "but we can't liberate more territory without a lot more assistance." back in the rubble of dnipro, the search for survivors has continued. rescue workers shouting out, "is anyone there?" yes, yes, yes! then "yes!", when a small voice is heard. and another woman is brought to safety, or what passes for safety here, after almost a year of war. andrew harding, bbc news, ukraine.

you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... novak djokovic starts his bid for a tenth australian open title, a year after he was deported from the country for breaching covid rules. donald trump is now the 45th president of the united states. he was sworn in before several hundred thousand people on the steps of capitol hill in washington. it's going to be only america first. america first. demonstrators waiting for mike getting and his rebel cricket team were attacked with tear gas and set upon by police dogs. anti—apartheid campaigners say they will carry on the protests

throughout the tour. they call him - the butcher of lyon. klaus altmann is being heldj on a fraud charge in bolivia. the west germans want i to extradite him for crimes committed in wartime france. there, he was the gestapo chief, klaus barbie. - millions came to bathe as close as possible to this spot. a tide of humanity that's believed by officials to have broken all records. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines... a day of mourning has been declared in nepal as at least 68 people have died in a plane crashjust a mile short of the airport. ukraine suffers its worst day of russian shelling in weeks — with more than 100 missiles fired into eastern ukraine. in the city of dnipro, 30 people are confirmed dead. to california now — a story we've been covering for a while now on newsday, and a major disaster has been declared there,

where a series of severe storms has prompted president biden to send aid from the federal government. at least 19 people have died in the storms. our correspondent sophie long reports from the hills above santa barbara. frantic efforts to protect homes from further flooding. if we didn't get this done today, we would have lost our house. jeff bailey's wife and young children evacuated. he stayed to protect their home. it's been hard. my wife has been bringing them over, up at the top of the hill, and i've been giving them hugs and kisses and telling them how much i love them. but, you know, we all have to process it. sorry, it's the first time i have become emotional. so, yeah, you know. we're safe, we're surviving and we'lljust keep going forward. across california, after three weeks of almost continuous

catastrophic downpours, rain is the last thing people here need. and yet, it keeps coming. widespread flooding is getting worse, and roads are disintegrating. emergency services could only watch as this one collapses into the valley below. we joined the santa barbara bucket brigade, a local volunteer force formed after a mudslide killed 23 people here five years ago. what's happened here? just all came down off here. this is the road. this is the road to my mom's house, she can't get home. you can see the impact of the heavy deluges here. this road has been completely cut off. people cannot access their homes. the rains have now started again after a brief period of respite, and there's concern that more is going to come down. they were west of us. the threat of mudslides means they need to move quickly. the next stop is steve's house.

that was a pretty hairy drive by my standards. so this tree i planted, 26 years ago it was this tall, and it is the only tree to survive this. the whole thing just slid down, this is about 200 feet wide. you know, you kind of get overwhelmed with a series of emotional things, which go from hope to pride to fear to, you know, despair to all of that stuff, but at the end of the day, you know, we are a resilient lot up here, and we know what to do, so this is what we're doing today. a saturated california can only wait to see what he the next storm brings. sophie long, bbc news, santa barbara. i want to tell you now about an ai—powered app that's changing the face of education. imagine having your college essay or cover letter written by artificial intelligence with just a simple query in a search engine. creepy or cool?

thejury is the jury is still out. well, that's essentially what chatgpt, an ai—powered app that was launched last november, can do. it has taken the internet by storm, but there has also been growing concern from some in the education sector of its potential impacts on assessments within both schools and universities. for more on this, we can speak now to gerry chang, risk advisory executive director, deloitte singapore. it is wonderful to get you in the programme. just to start by saying, do you see these sorts of apps, the sort of artificial intelligence, is a for students, but he will hindrance for educators?— for educators? thank you for havin: for educators? thank you for having me- _ for educators? thank you for having me- i— for educators? thank you for having me. i think— for educators? thank you for having me. i think this - for educators? thank you for having me. i think this is - for educators? thank you for| having me. i think this is one of the areas where technology is at a position to really disrupt the old way of working, and particularly in the education sector, one of the key things is that schools need to revisit the way they are assessing students of�*

knowledge, moving away from the regurgitation is to wonder where it really tests critical thinking and ability to apply the knowledge that has been there. so technologies like this is going to really start changing it and the students, notjust changing it and the students, not just students, changing it and the students, notjust students, notjust in the education sector, but we can really benefit from the use of such technologies to bring concepts and ideas very quickly to drafts, which we can then further refine it based on our ownjudgment if further refine it based on our own judgment if used quickly. do you think the education sector, orall of do you think the education sector, or all of us, do you think the education sector, orall of us, in do you think the education sector, or all of us, in fact, able to sort of catch up and keep up the pace with the sort of changes that are taking place when it comes to technology like this? that has a very interesting _ technology like this? that has a very interesting point. - technology like this? that has a very interesting point. in - a very interesting point. in fact, it is one of the key concerns that policymakers are also having around the world when it is really about the digital literacy and readiness of the society. if we look at models like this, they are still very much english —based

language models and at the micro level, there is this concern around what about countries who do not speak english natively? they will not be able to benefit from tools like this, so you get a digital divide that is going to widen within societies. there is also the focus around digital literacy of the citizens to make sure this does not unnecessarily advantage privilege clips within the societies.— privilege clips within the societies. .. ., societies. some education systems — societies. some education systems are _ societies. some education systems are already - societies. some educationj systems are already trying societies. some education i systems are already trying to regulate a mess, banning the use of it, for students, or finding ways to figure out whether it has been used, chatgpt, and some of the assessments. is that the right way to go about doing this, should there be a, let's try and work with this ai software approach quite make it as multilateral approach where it is how do you work with technologies like this. i is how do you work with technologies like this. i think technologies _ technologies like this. i think technologies like _ technologies like this. i think technologies like this - technologies like this. i think technologies like this are - technologies like this. i thinkl technologies like this are here to stay. just like search engines many years ago allowed us to billy query information on the internet a lot easier,

so technologies like this allow us to move concepts to drafts much quicker, and that they come risk of course, particularly in education sector where the integrity of the research that has been done, the factual accuracy is very important. models like this are generally coherent, but they do, from time to time, give you information which may not be accurate and that is where judgment needs to be not be accurate and that is wherejudgment needs to be put into curate and fact check the information returned. indeed. gerry chng. — information returned. indeed. gerry chng, risk _ information returned. indeed. gerry chng, risk advisory - gerry chng, risk advisory executive director with deloitte singapore, thank you so much forjoining us on that topic. lots more to talk about, of course, but for now we leave that al software and chatgpt issue. president biden has told americans to look towards martin luther king jr's life for lessons on repairing their divisions, as he become the first sitting us president this to speak at a sunday service in the civil rights leader's church in atlanta.

service in the civil rights the speech marked the national holiday that celebrates the civil rights activist�*s life and legacy. dr king, who was assassinated in 1968, would have been 94 today. we have to choose a community over chaos. and we, the people, are going to choose love over hate. the battle for the soul of this nation is perennial. it's a constant struggle. it's a constant struggle between hope and fear, kindness and cruelty, justice and injustice. against those who traffic in racism, extremism and insurrection. a battle fought on battlefields and bridges, from courthouses and ballot boxes to pulpits and protest. and at our best, the american promise wins out. the australian open, the first grand slam of the tennis season, is under way in melbourne, and novak djokovic has been granted a visa to take part.

he will launch his bid for a tenth aussie open title on tuesday, a year after he was deported from australia because he had not been vaccinated against covid—19. ben rothenberg from racquet magazine told me what we can expect from the next fortnight of tennis and, once again, it's all eyes on the serbian superstar. novak djokovic is the story of the australian open once again, any very different way than he was last year when he was subject of international attention and a media circus around his deportation saga, which wound up with him getting ousted from australia before the tournament began. this time, the tournament began. this time. he — the tournament began. this time. he is _ the tournament began. this time, he is the _ the tournament began. this time, he is the story - the tournament began. ti 3 time, he is the story because he is favourite to win the tournament again, winning it nine times before, and he seems to be in pretty good shape to do it again. he won at the adelaide one up tournament at the beginning of the month and has been dealing with a bit of a hamstring issue that could flare up, but it does seem like he may not be forgiving, but everything is willing to be forgotten with djokovic, people seem to be willing to move on

from the dawn of lustre and focus on the tennis this time. and in terms of the fans are far rafael nadal, it seems trickier. ~ . , , ., trickier. what is his role looking _ trickier. what is his role looking like? _ trickier. what is his role looking like? he - trickier. what is his role looking like? he has - trickier. what is his role| looking like? he has got trickier. what is his role i looking like? he has got a tough draw, opening against jack draper, one of the fast rising british talents in nature, someone who has been looked at as a youngster. has gone under the radar a bit, it has... draper has gone to the radar, but has a very talented big strong lefty, not someone who nadal wants to play right now because he has struggled, it is one of the worst stretches of his career in terms of not winning any matches. losing match after match, but not in top form. the pressure a bit, filling it a bit more than usual, maybe a little more less in confidence, but betting against rafael nadal has not won anyone much in his career.— in his career. let's turn to the women _ in his career. let's turn to the women now— in his career. let's turn to the women now because l in his career. let's turn to - the women now because lester's champion ash barty shocked the

tennis world when she retired. the favourite would be iga swiatek, who succeeded ash barty. she further distanced himself from the pack, winning two grand slams in paris and new york last year. she doesn't love the conditions in melbourne, it is a bit faster her, she likely a bit of a slower court where she can have time, but she is the dominant player, almost twice as many ranking points as the ranked number two player, and it is her turn in toulouse. there are some real contenders in a row, particularly number three, jessica pegula, who beat swiatek pretty handily in the first week of the year, any semifinal, she could play her. some roadblocks along the way, but pegula is a clear flavoured on the women's side as djokovic as for the men. —— but swiatek is a clear favourite on the women's side. everyone hid in the northern hemisphere just looks at it and looks for that

sunshine he for their coldest months here knows what can happen it brings everything is dark up north and it is the place where the players enjoy being in the warmth, everyone is healthy and rested. the tennis's and is pretty nonstop, server and comes to stray any pretty good mood. aha, server and comes to stray any pretty good mood.— server and comes to stray any pretty good mood. a pretty good mood indeed. _ pretty good mood. a pretty good mood indeed. ben _ pretty good mood. a pretty good mood indeed. ben rothenberg,| mood indeed. ben rothenberg, senior editor of a racket magazine and host of the tennis podcast, no challenges remaining, talking about the australian open, of course. before we go — earlier we reported on the catastrophic flooding in california, but let's show you something a bit lighter. this is a bear which decided to take a dip in a swimming pool in monrovia during one of storms. the homeowners spotted the bear enjoying itself in the pool, and after a few lengths, the bear casually climbed out of the water, shook itself off, and wandered back to the woods. making the best of a very bad

situation. for now, that has it from us, thank you forjoining us can i do stay with bbc news for the latest global headlines and analysis. hello there, the first—half of the month was very wet and mild, but the weather this week is going to look very different. it is going to be cold and frosty, we are going to have some icy patches around, and the risk of some snow. predicting where the snow was going to fall is going to be quite difficult. these are the temperatures we start with a monday morning, coldest in the north with clear skies away from those of snow showers. icy patches around in the morning. we had this wet weather in the south—east, mostly rain, but there could be some snow over there could be some snow over the downs and at the race we could see some snow to low levels as well. it will pull away, cloudy for a while, otherwise we see some sunshine coming through, but we will keep some wintry parts coming to northern ireland. most of

the snow in the chilly wind. temperature rise, struggling. typically around three to five celsius. those temperatures will fall quickly after that, frosty places monday night and just money. the risk of snow in the far southwest is lessened, most of the wet weather looks like it's going to be in the channel. that allows more wintry showers to feed into northern ireland over the irish sea and in northwest england and north wales, it is not so wet in the northwest of scotland on tuesday. many places will again have a dry day with sunshine but temperatures only around three or four degrees. we are still in cold air on tuesday and into wednesday as well, that area of low pressure gets close to the northeast of scotland, bringing some stronger winds here and the threat of some snow. otherwise, the winds more northerly. so, northern scotland in the firing line, northern ireland and around some of these irish sea coasts. many other areas likely to be dry and sunny. but another chilly day, perhaps not quite as cold, four to six degrees, but still a cold day

with some sunshine. how long will the cold weather last? well, there are weather fronts trying to push in from the atlantic but seems to be slowing down. and ahead of that, we have a ridge of high pressure building and on thursday. that will kill off most of the showers and many places dry with some sunshine again. we start to see some of that cloud coming into the far west, bringing some damp weather to the southwest of england. ahead of that, temperatures are still sitting at four to six degrees. so come for the next few days, different sorts of hazards, really. it's going to be cold, it's going be frosty, the signs of milder weather coming in but probably not until next weekend.

welcome to hardtalk, with me, zeinab badawi. i'm just outside colombo, the capital of sri lanka. this beautiful island nation has been plunged into its worst economic crisis for more than 70 years. it led to widespread protests and forced the resignation of the president last year. and all this after a long—running civil war in which around 100,000 died.