welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: the earthquakes in turkey and syria, have killed more than 12,000 people — it's feared thousands more are still trapped. president erdogan has acknowledged mistakes were made in the initial response, as the extent of the devastation becomes ever clearer. the rescuers say that they will come back tomorrow and the next day. they will return to sites like this for as long as it takes to return loved ones to their relatives. we'll be speking to the turkish ambassador to singapore about the scale of the disaster. the other main headlines: in ukraine, russian forces are pushing hard for victory in the city of bakhmut,

but ukranian troops are using drones to fight back. its time for us to move now but the drone is back and the grenade has been dropped. we can't stay in this location for more than two or three minutes because there is a risk that we will be targeted here. president zelensky, on his first visit to the uk since the russian invasion, thanks mps and peers for their support but urges the uk to give fighter jets to ukraine. the writing on the helmet reads: we have freedom, give us wings to protect it. and, we put on our vr goggles, for an instalation that combines art and virtual reality, in an exhibition of immersive storytelling. it is an immersive medium, you can get lost inside of it so it

creates this empathy that no other medium, i think, can create. hello and welcome to the programme. we begin with the situation in turkey and syria, where more than 12,000 people are known to have died in the earthquakes which devastated the region. aid workers have warned they are dealing with a �*nightmare scenario�*. in a moment, jeremy bowen reports from syria, but first let's hear from our correspondent anna foster, who was among the first journalists to reach the epicentre zone. she sent this report from the turkish city of kahramanmaras. the devastating power of the earth, seen from the air. swathes of this city lie in ruins, buildings,

homes, lives have been destroyed. in many cities, the search now is not for survivors, it is only for the dead. when the rubble shows a sign, the digging stops. behind this blanket, an arm reveals a body. slowly, carefully, it is uncovered. and then, the moment of realisation. screams. a father lost. screams. the goodbye is painful and public.

and here in maras, ambulances are now hearses. they have spent the whole day here searching for bodies, and the light is starting to fade now, but the rescuers say they will come back tomorrow and the next day. they will return to sites like this for as long as it takes to return loved ones to their relatives. they are rare, but there are still moments of hope. a little girl, healthy and alive, after three days buried. the rescuers celebrate. she says her siblings are down there as well.

today, president erdogan came to visit those who have lost everything. but there is growing anger that help is coming too slowly and that is not enough of it. he says it is impossible to prepare for disasters on this scale. translation: we have some problems with places - like airports in the beginning. we had problems on the roads, but it is better today and it will be even better tomorrow. bodies now fill this sports hall. more are arriving all the time. among them, yunus�*s fiancee. they were just weeks away from getting married. translation: i was planning to dress her in a wedding - dress, but now i will dress her in a funeral shroud. i am like the walking dead, i am the living dead. i lost my feelings. each of these bundles marks a future cut short, a family separated. every hour, the death toll rises, and even now,

it is impossible to know how many lives this quake has claimed. i spoke to the turkish ambassador to singapore mehmet burcin gonenli who told me how big of a scale of a disaster is this for turkey to face, in terms of what they've seen in the past. we were hit by two major earthquakes on february six. the first one took place at four o'clock in the morning, 7.7 on the richter scale and nine hours after that there was another major earthquake, 7.6 on the richter scale for two major earthquakes and since the earthquake was followed by almost 700 after—shocks. the after—shocks are still ongoing. so the earthquake of such a magnitude caused huge

destruction. unfortunately, we have 8900 people dead. we have more than 19,000 people wounded according to recent data and tens of thousands of people left homeless and as president at a one said this is one of the biggest natural disasters in the history of too. i the biggest natural disasters in the history of too.- in the history of too. i will aet in the history of too. i will net to in the history of too. i will get to the _ in the history of too. i will get to the response - in the history of too. i will get to the response of - in the history of too. i will i get to the response of what president erdogan said in a moment but in terms of what people need right now, the aid that communities need, what is that? ., ., , that? there are harsh conditions _ that? there are harsh conditions prevailing l that? there are harsh l conditions prevailing in that? there are harsh - conditions prevailing in the region therefore we urgently need tense. this is the recent information by received from ankara. apart from this we need to protect people from winter conditions, we need electric heaters, socks, overcoats, winter coats, winter shoes, tents, sleeping bags, food,

ready to eat meals, and socks, underwear. in terms of incoming donations we need those items and on top of this we need also medical items including portable monitors, first aid kits, etc. 0ut embassies across the world are co—ordinating with the host government. yes and i know _ with the host government. yes and i know you _ with the host government. yes and i know you are _ with the host government. yes and i know you are doing something quite similar here in singapore but the president has come under criticism from his people, your citizens in turkey, that the effort to help people didn't happen fast enough. we have heard from our own reporter's desperate stories of people trying to help their own relatives, digging through the rubble with no help from authorities. why did it take so long to get help to those in need?— to those in need? first of all, this is not _ to those in need? first of all, this is not a _ to those in need? first of all, this is not a localised - this is not a localised earthquake as opposed to or

compared to the previous ones. this took place in a region just to give you an idea, the crust of the earth is assessed to have moved two and a half to three metres, such was the scale of the earthquake. now we have as of now almost 100,000 people search and rescue workers on the ground going through the rubble, restoring the badly damaged infrastructure to. we have more than 5500 vehicles, more than 120 aircraft and helicopters and we have also more than 5500 rescue workers helping us. so the disaster of such a scale is unprecedented in our history. that was the turkish ambassador to singapore. that was the turkish ambassador to singapore-— to singapore. speaking to us a little earlier. _

well we have been talking about turkey, but the situation in northern syria was desperate even before the earthquake struck. the region is home to millions of refugees displaced by years of civil war. some emergency aid has been flown in from iran and the gulf states but the syrian government has also asked the european union for help. the group of volunteers known as the white helmets are leading the rescue efforts. 0ur international editor jeremy bowen reports. something to celebrate at last in a place without much good news. a family of six was rescued alive from the rubble in idlib, the last part of syria still controlled by rebels. the rescuers, a group called the white helmets that the uk helps to fund, are experts. they've been digging out survivors of the assad regime's air strikes for much of syria's long war. the geological faults that brought down these buildings cut right across the front

lines and zones of influence that have devastated syria since 2011. this is aleppo, syria's biggest city, back in regime hands since the rebels here were defeated in 2016. now syria has a huge natural disaster on the back of the man—made catastrophe that broke the country. in aleppo hospital, every bed has its own tragedy. only three members of this man's family survived when their home collapsed. 13 of them were killed. they were, he says my father, my mother, my brother, his wife, and their four children. and the wife and two kids of the brother who was rescued with me also died. faced with such disaster, the un, which already helps care for millions of syrians, appealed for some national solidarity. we are hoping that everybody puts the interest of the people first. we keep the politics aside,

all authorities move away from the issue, from the politics, and put the interest of the people first. in damascus, the capital, citizens are rallying around, giving blood. so far, grassroots relief efforts seem to be the best hope. but it's not clear whether aid collected and delivered in damascus will make it across the front line into rebel—held idlib province. back in aleppo, russian troops, whose intervention salvaged the rule of the assad family, are helping the syrian red crescent alongside algerian rescue workers. the damascus regime says its allies, also including iran, are flying in aid. allies and who controls what won't matter much to families who are homeless or nervous about sleeping in damaged buildings.

an earthquake tests any nation's resilience. war has taught a generation of syrians that they have to fend for themselves. in idlib province, the white helmets rescued another child, a boy. people do their best. broader aid efforts, let alone rebuilding, will need a miracle to overcome the blight, hatred, and distrust of a generation of war. jeremy bowen, bbc news. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the exhibition of immersive storytelling that combines art and virtual reality. there's mr mandela, mr nelson mandela, a free man, taking his first steps into a new south africa.

iran's spiritual leader, ayatollah khomeini, has said he's passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti havej flocked to church to give thanks for the ousting i of their former president ba by doc duvalier. because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special secure box in the stud farm's central block. shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had brought with them. there stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning, elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani

in singapore. 0ur headlines: the earthquakes in turkey and syria have killed more than 12,000 people, it's feared thousands more are still trapped. there's been fierce fighting in and around the eastern city of bakhmut in ukraine. russian forces are trying to encircle the city and there is street to street fighting in some areas. russia's president putin is pushing hard for a victory in bakhmut before the first anniversary of the invasion in a few weeks' time, and before ukraine takes delivery of tanks from western allies. from eastern ukraine, our senior international correspondent 0rla guerin reports. 0n the battlefields around bakhmut, we follow ukrainian national guardsmen hunting for the enemy. every minute counts, russian forces are attacking from three sides.

this is the safest place, here on the front line. because we have 1.5 kilometres for the russian troops. now it is here. we will fight with a drone and try to find somebody. and if they find russian forces, they will drop this modified german grenade, held in place with a bit of velcro. we know that here, a lot of russian soldiers walking, living, sitting and so on. and so we just give them some gift and you will see the boom.

and you will see the boom. yes, here. it was our grenade. it is time for us to move now that the drone is back and the grenade has been dropped. we can't stay in this location for more than two or three minutes because there is a risk that we will be targeted here. inside bakhmut, few dare to venture out. it feels like a city on borrowed time. but some still survive here in their basements, in the depths of war. in this darkness we find a bright spark, 7—year—old anna. she lives with her mother, grandfather, two cats and a dog called mushka. she is happy to see a familiarface. pavlo from the white angels,

a ukrainian police team. anna knows how to spring a trap. "it can bite," she says. "i sit in the cellar almost all day long," she tells me. "in the street, i walk and take mushka for a walk." but she is afraid of the booms and constantly comes back. "only in the morning at dawn when it is quiet, anna's mother has turned down police offers of evacuation. she says nowhere in ukraine is safe and she can't afford

to go abroad. all pavlo can do is keep anna warm with a new sleeping bag and hope she survives another night, as russian forces try to shelve this city into submission. 0rla guerin, bbc news, bakhmut. an update — we have heard that anna has been safely evacuated from bakhmut. good news there. ukraine's president zelenskyy has been visiting european allies for the first time since his country was invaded by russia last year. he's been asking them to send more military help.in the past few hours, he's been in paris, where he met president macron and the german chancelor 0laf scholz. he urged them to deliver the equipment ukraine needed "as soon as possible". earlier, president

zelenskyy was in the uk where he addressed both houses of parliament at westminster. he again appealed for more military help — including fighterjets. applause applause i will explain. the helmet of a real ukrainian pilot. he is one of our most successful and he is one of our kings. in the writing on the helmet reads, " we have freedom, give us wings to protected." let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. a bus has crashed into a daycare centre near the canadian city of montreal, killing two children and injuring six others. the driver has been arrested and charged with homicide

and dangerous driving. the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, said he was devastated and couldn't imagine what the families were going through. newly released documents provide a scathing account of the conduct of five officers involved in the fatal police beating of tyre nichols. demetrius haley stood over tyre as he lay propped against a police car and took photographs, which haley sent to other officers. us officials say there have been at least four previous spy balloons that had drifted over american sites that were of interest to china. they said three happened under donald trump's administration and a fourth, early on injoe biden�*s. no details were given of the flights paths they took. the latest was shot down by us fighterjets on saturday. dutch prosecutors say there are

strong indications that vladimir putin personally approved the supplying of the missile that shut down a passenger plane over ukraine in 2014. , , ., ., , passenger plane over ukraine in 2014. ,, ., a, , 2014. russia has denied any responsibility _ 2014. russia has denied any responsibility for _ 2014. russia has denied any responsibility for the - 2014. russia has denied any| responsibility for the incident which killed all 298 passengers and crew on board. the authorities in pakistan have warned that people trying hoard petrol and diesel will face serious consequences after petrol stations in several cities reportedly ran out of fuel. motorists have complained of long queues at petrol pumps. minister have insisted the country had sufficient supplies and said the government had no immediate plans to increase fuel prices. art and virtual reality technology combine in a free exhibition of immersive storytelling at london's south bank centre. 0ur correspondent luxmy gopal donned her vr goggles and went along to discover more.

giving art a different dimension. at this exhibition at bfi south bank, you can enjoy the artwork, short films through virtual reality goggles. it is easiest to grab the front of the headset and adjust it to your eyes. bringing technology and art together to bring you closer to the story. the virtual reality is really an immersive medium, you kind of get lost inside of it. it creates this empathy that no other medium, i think, can create. so telling a story about that is about someone else, you immediately kind of put yourself in their shoes. bamboo kenneth's work is about the challenge of non—binary parents trying to adopt a child. the exhibition's artists are all non—binary or women to counter the idea that tech is a man's world.

there is the stereotype that new and emerging technologies are predominately male. it is not true, there are amazing female and nonbinary creators working on the stories and here at the bfi, we want to surface that. when i first began training in this medium, i went to a lab and there were 20 participants and i was the only woman. and it was entirely white. things needed to change and i think this will be a real game changer and its shines a light there are women in this space and making such amazing pieces of work. with the vr headset on, you're placed within the art. it's like the room is moving and i'm getting pushed closer to the tv in this image. the backdrop becomes your surroundings and you feel less of a passive observer. children need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught they have an inalienable right to be gay.

that really does pull you into the story really effectively. you feel you are actually there, you are sat in the room and you are dropped downward so it really does make you feel a lot closer to the story. this closeness, this immersive element provides a powerful canvas. the exhibition, shifting perspectives, is free luxmy gopal, bbc london. a reminder of our main news this hour. thousands of people in southern turkey and northern syria are spending another night in the open amid fears that many survivors of monday's earthquakes could lose their lives because of freezing conditions. a world health organization official has warned that there's a real danger of seeing a secondary disaster which could cause harm to more people than the earthquakes. the number of people known to have died has already passed 12,000. some people though are still being found alive, but hopes are fading for many more still believed to be

trapped under the rubble. that's all for now — stay with bbc news. hello there. there was a hard frost across england and wales but plenty of sunshine on wednesday here but we had gale force gusts of wind and rain further north.— force gusts of wind and rain further north. this is how we closed out — further north. this is how we closed out the _ further north. this is how we closed out the afternoon. - further north. this is how we closed out the afternoon. in | closed out the afternoon. in highland. in that weather front responsible for this continues to sink its way steadily south and east. no significant rain by the time it pushes southeast as it comes into this area of high pressure, a cloud, light drizzle from east anglia down to cornwall, slowly clearing towards the channel. behind it, some sunshine coming through, a brisk north—westerly wind will continue to feed in showers particularly in the north—west of the great glenn and wind still gusting 40—50 miles per hour at times so noticeable

strong westerly wind. temperatures around 7—9 , wanted places if we are lucky just seeing 10 celsius as a high, 50 fahrenheit. as you close out thursday into the early hours of my day, we start to see a contrast, more cloud pushing to the far north, some showery outbreaks of rain here but milder, temperatures holding up above freezing, with clear skies, captures falling just below freezing once again across england and wales so we can't rule out frost and fog again or friday. i pressure dominates for england and wales, still a bit more of a breeze up to the far north—west in this westerly feed of air will continue to be a story so it will be a slightly milder deal generally across the country, likely to see temperatures into double digits. the weather front topping across the high will bring outbreaks of showery rain into scotland, more cloud, high cloud across northern england and wales as well, eyes generally of 9— 13 degrees. as

you move into the weekend, that milder hour will continue to be the story. the higher pressure reallyjust the story. the higher pressure really just sitting across europe and clinging onto central and southern england, with weather fronts toppling across that high. that means we are always running the risk of more cloud and outbreaks of rain, with a stronger wind across the far north and west. a lot of cloud generally on saturday, largely fine and dry for england and wales, and a bit milder. 9— 13 degrees, the hi. similarstory bit milder. 9— 13 degrees, the hi. similar story as well as we going to sunday, watch out for that early morning mist and fog once

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. coming up on this week's show — nigeria's looted treasures and the battle to get them back. they will not have any other choice than to release what belongs to us, because the whole world knows they are stolen properties. we get the low down on europe's sleeper trains. the private companies that are now embracing this new passion for sleeper travel are getting people back onto trains and away from short—haul budget flights.