with the wildfires. we have the latest from greece. when we first arrived here most of the smoke was coming from over there but in the last few minutes there has been a flare out down here in the strong wind not only makes things tougher for the people fighting the fires but much more dangerous. china's foreign minister, a fierce critic of the west, has been replaced with his predecessor. we'll look into the opaque world of beijing's leadership. plus as a string of rare political scandals rocks singapore we speak to the man who is poised to be the next prime minister. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc world news. it's newsday.

hello and welcome to the programme. we begin in greece, where emergency services face another day of wildfires across the country. the largest greek island, crete, is now on high alert. on tuesday two air force pilots died after their plane crashed as it battled fires on the island of svr. the plane was trying to drop water on a forest fire. lasers continued on the island of rhodes. —— blazes continue too on rhodes. more evacuation flights have taken off and at least 10% of the land has been burnt. from there, our correspondent jenny hill reports. unrelenting, unforgiving — the fires are raging on. firefighters battling to contain them. notjust here on rhodes, but on the islands of evia and corfu, too. it's desperate, dangerous work. this afternoon on evia, a terrible

reminder of the risks taken. a firefighting aircraft dumps its water, appears to clip a tree and loses control. the two pilots on board were killed. so many are putting themselves in harm's way, like volunteer firefighter panagiotis, who takes us to see what this fire can do. his team's camping nearby, still on high alert. their village isjust down the road. translation: you can | understand our anguish. we were running to put out the fire. we were desperate to save the forest, but we were also desperate to save our houses and our families. when we came to the top of a nearby hill, the scale of the challenge became obvious. up here, you really get a sense of how difficult the task is for firefighters.

when we first arrived here, most of the smoke was coming from over there. but in the last few minutes, there's been a flare—up just down here. and of course, the strong wind is not only making things tougher for the people fighting the fires, but much more dangerous. this isn't the image this tourist island wants to project. earlier, the greek prime minister acknowledged that difficult days lie ahead. they sing. which is why, even here, a birthday is worth celebrating, though the candle�*s unlit. you don't light candle? no, we don't light the fire. "we only put out the fires," he jokes. "we don't start them." dark humour in sobering times. jenny hill, bbc news, rhodes. after a month of speculation about his disappearance from public view, china has removed its newly appointed foreign minister oin gang, and replaced him with his predecessor, wang yi.

as a close associate of president xijinping, mr oin was promoted quickly, but his removal — without an official explanation — continues to fuel speculations over what happened. steven mcdonnell is following this story invasion. of course this story invasion. of course this is absolutely massive news in china and yet in typical fashion it came in such a muted way withjust a fashion it came in such a muted way with just a few sentences read out on the evening television news wollaton that the foreign minister was to be removed from his post and replaced by the communist party �*s seniorforeign affairs �*s senior foreign affairs official, �*s seniorforeign affairs official, someone who has done thejob before. for the chinese people that is all they get and i suppose it is for them to accept it. that is the idea. the government made a decision, this is your foreign minister, he is gone, no more explanation as to why. the interesting

thing, though, is how somebody who was seen as being so close to xijinping, who who was seen as being so close to xi jinping, who was appointed by xijinping only half a year ago could have so quickly been removed from this post. because of the opaque nature of governance here, all manners of questions are being asked about this. i mean, he disappeared and was not fronting up for his normal duties about a month ago and the official explanation was because of health reasons. but as the weeks went on and he was not reappearing, people started to speculate that maybe it is some sort of political punishment for him. online the rumours started spreading about him having had an affair with a television presenter and that she also had disappeared. it could be a combination of those

two things as well, for example, his enemies in the party could be using an affair like this, an extramarital affair to get like this, an extramarital affairto get him like this, an extramarital affair to get him because although this is not against the law in china it could be construed to be against internal party discipline regulations and so maybe someone who has a different view of him, maybe somebody who thinks he is not enough of a wolf warrior, not going out there hard enough, maybe it is rivalry, who knows and they have used this affair to get him. eitherway, here we have used this affair to get him. either way, here we are still guessing with no further information and even if it is something to do with his health, none of these options are good. either way it looks like we may never see him in public life again. if you look at the foreign ministry's website his name has already been scrubbed from the records. that was stephen mcdonnell.

i also spoke with ianjohnson, a senior fellow on china studies at the council on foreign relations about what he makes of the speculations, i think it's almost in some ways, i guess it's not so important the sort of reasons it's more clearly he ran into some political difficulty. i think if you if you just got ill, then there would have been a forthright explanation of that, instead there was a very terse one sentence statement saying that he'd been removed from office. the extramarital affair, i could believe it could be true, of course, but i would think that security officials would have known about this for a long time. i don't think at that level in chinese politics that there are too many secrets. so i think there must have been some other trigger that happened in the past couple of months that caused him to fall out of favour. and i think that's really the interesting thing. and he's been replaced

by wang yi, who's returning from his semi—retirement. again, a lot of rumours about how the two men may not have got on, but is this about political infighting, which could show the problems at the top with how china runs things? yeah, i think it's it's possible that they didn't get along or that the knives were out for oin gang because he had been promoted very quickly. he was relatively young for his position and wasn't exactly helicoptered up to the highest levels, but he it was a pretty fast rise. clearly, he was xijinping's person. i think the bigger issue to me is that it's another one of a string of very public problems that xi jinping has faced over the past 12 months. and the first decade or so that he was in power, from his perspective at least, things went very, very smoothly. but like leaders, many leaders around the world, after you've been in power

for a while, problems seem to accumulate. and these are problems that aren't sort of behind the scenes. these are very public things, such as the covid, the handling of the ending of the covid restrictions and oin gang and the economy. these are things that i think all chinese people can see and understand that there's something going on. how long do you think wang yi will be in this position? will they possibly be appointing another foreign minister? i would think that they will appoint another foreign minister. wang yi has held the position before. he's clearly a fireman or a caretaker who's been sent in to right the ship to keep chinese foreign policy going smoothly. and i think he'll do that because he's a very capable official, iwould imagine, perhaps by next spring at the national people's congress that usually takes place in early march, there'll probably be

a new foreign minister that will give them time to vet everyone, perhaps a little more carefully, to go through normal procedures and get somebody else in charge. and that will allow wang yi to go back to his more senior position that he had held in the communist party coordinating foreign policy. taiwan has cancelled some of its annual military drills on tuesday for safety reasons as authorities brace themselves for what they say could be the most damaging typhoon to hit the island in nearly four years. it was not clear how the typhoon could further impact the five day exercise set to take place throughout the island this week. the drills happen yearly here with a focus on defending the island's main international airport and how to keep sea lanes open in the event of a chinese blockade. crossing live now to rupert in taiwan. thank you forjoining

us. do we know what is going to happen to this exercise that was expected to take place this week? it was expected to take place this week? ., , , was expected to take place this week? . , , , , ., , week? it has been disrupted, as ou can week? it has been disrupted, as you can see- _ week? it has been disrupted, as you can see- i — week? it has been disrupted, as you can see. i am _ week? it has been disrupted, as you can see. i am on _ week? it has been disrupted, as you can see. i am on a - week? it has been disrupted, as you can see. i am on a rooftop. you can see. i am on a rooftop and behind me as international airport, the main airport in northern taiwan where the exercises are going to take place this morning in about 1.5 hours. they are going to close it to all traffic and do a simulation of chinese forces coming in via helicopter and trying to seize this airport and then we expect to see taiwanese ground forces repelling that attempt to seize the airport. we expect it is going ahead despite the fact you can see the wind here is very strong and there is a typhoon moving in and that disrupts a lot of the activity here. but what is happening here. but what is happening here this morning is quite interesting. this is the taiwanese learning from what happened in ukraine a little over one year ago when russian forces on the first day of

their invasion of ukraine attempted to seize an airport just outside the capital and they were repelled by ukrainian forces and their attempt to seize the capital there for also fail. so the taiwanese know that if the chinese ever tried to invade the silent they will do the same and try to seize key infrastructure like this airport they are doing and need drills this week is practising with combined forces, air, ground and naval, hard to resist the chinese doing that and that is what we will see in a little bit here. thank you so much forjoining us from taiwan. around the world and across the uk people across the streets of manchester are being asked about life's big questions to pick sides in the hottest cultural debate. barbie or

oppenheimer? and age—old questions, people in the north have had since the dawn of time since barn or muffin. they are an informal way of disposing of litter. you have an option to pick aside and drop your littering. are working in partnership within environmental charity and kfc. similar ones have been installed for cigarette butt which they say has reduced litter by 46% in cities around the world. so what subject might be debated next at the ballot in? city or united? tea or dinner, my personal favourite, steam or diesel all the best regional news programme. for more stories from across the uk had to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. singapore, known from political stability has been rocked in recent weeks by a string of

rare political scandals the transport minister was arrested two weeks ago and released on bail in a corruption investigation, the first such case in four decades. last week several lawmakers including the speaker of parliament as well as members of the opposition party resigned after it was revealed they were in extramarital affairs. revealed they were in extramaritalaffairs. it revealed they were in extramarital affairs. it has shocked residents of the citystate which prides itself on a reputation for clean governance and has the highest paid leaders in the world. for more on this i am joined by the deputy prime minister of singapore who has been widely seen to succeed the current prime minister as the leader of the island nation. thank you forjoining us on the programme this morning. firstly, these recent scandals has somewhat rocked the reputation of singapore as a squeakyclean country. what is your response to that?

i would say it is very unfortunate incidents have happened, all bunched up and close up at a racial time within the same month. the incidents are set back for the ruling party and the government. despite our best efforts, people make mistakes, and things do go wrong from time to time. when that happens, i think what matters more is our response. so if you look across the string of incidents, our response has been very clear. we have sought to set things straight, to do the right things, and we have been up front about the cases, investigated them thoroughly, and have an full accounting to the public as and when findings are available. so i have no doubt that we will reflect, learn from these experiences, make our systems better and continue to uphold the trust that singaporeans have in the elected government and in our

system of government. you said he had been _ system of government. you said he had been up _ system of government. you said he had been up front— system of government. you said he had been up front but - system of government. you said he had been up front but for- he had been up front but for example in that corruption scandal, it took several days for the government to confirm his arrest, and i guess in terms of the extramarital affair, the prime minister was informed about it a while ago, so i guess it makes people wonder whether that is actually being up front. i wonder whether that is actually being up front-— being up front. i can understand - being up front. i can understand why - being up front. i can i understand why people being up front. i can - understand why people have these questions. the two are quite unrelated. on the corruption case we have clarified. see b is an independent corrupt investigation bureau. they have legal powers and trained in the constitution to do thorough investigations, and it is up to them, it is their operational prerogative, what information to put out at every stage of the investigation. so when we talk about cpa b, the minister assisting with investigations at the start and the prime minister, that was based on the

cpib statement on that day. we don't want to go beyond what they were prepared to say that they were prepared to say that they so they were prepared to say that the , ,., , ., they were prepared to say that the �* ., they were prepared to say that the j ., ., they so you can't go in and say we don't _ they so you can't go in and say we don't -- — they so you can't go in and say we don't -- hey. _ they so you can't go in and say we don't -- hey, we _ they so you can't go in and say we don't -- hey, we have - they so you can't go in and say we don't -- hey, we have to i we don't —— hey, we have to make this announcement? we don't -- hey, we have to make this announcement? their operational _ make this announcement? their operational considerations - make this announcement? tie: " operational considerations and it is up to cpib to say that, at the start, but a few days later, they were prepared to reveal the fact that the minister was arrested. after all, bear in mind, in this case, there was no public information about it. no one knew about it. we discovered it, and we put the facts up proactively and we are determined to do a thorough investigation, and when the findings are ready, we will make the findings available to the public. make the findings available to the public— the public. i'm sorry to interrunt. _ the public. i'm sorry to interrupt, but - the public. i'm sorry to interrupt, but the - the public. i'm sorry to interrupt, but the cpibj the public. i'm sorry to - interrupt, but the cpib does report to the prime minister, doesn't it?— doesn't it? they do, but throughout _ doesn't it? they do, but throughout singapore i doesn't it? they do, but throughout singapore 's| throughout singapore 's history, no prime minister has stopped any investigation by the cpib, and the cpib also can go the cpib, and the cpib also can 9° up the cpib, and the cpib also can go up the president, if there were ever to be such an attempt

to do so. �* ., were ever to be such an attempt todoso. �* ., , were ever to be such an attempt todoso. ., , to do so. but would you be able to do so. but would you be able to understand _ to do so. but would you be able to understand i _ to do so. but would you be able to understand i guess _ to do so. but would you be able to understand i guess the - to understand i guess the public 's frustration that they had the right to know when the arrest was made?— arrest was made? sure, but i ho -e arrest was made? sure, but i hone the _ arrest was made? sure, but i hope the public _ arrest was made? sure, but i hope the public understands | arrest was made? sure, but i i hope the public understands and respects operational considerations and autonomy and independence in which cpib acts, and i believe singaporeans have full trust in the work of the cpib that throughout our history, their track record is clear and evident for all to see. we have zero tolerance for corruption, and cpib acts independently and and cpib acts independently and a very thorough in their investigations.- investigations. but i guess because they _ investigations. but i guess because they have - investigations. but i guess because they have been i investigations. but i guess . because they have been other scandals involving other lawmakers, i guess that has somewhat shaken i guess the public trust in the ruling party, and also, i mean, the prime minister has known about this affairfor a while. prime minister has known about this affair for a while. why was the speaker of the parliament allowed to continue

performing his duty? the prime minister has _ performing his duty? the prime minister has set _ performing his duty? the prime minister has set out _ performing his duty? the prime minister has set out the - performing his duty? the prime minister has set out the facts i minister has set out the facts behind this case. it is different from corruption. with corruption and criminal wrongdoing, we have a zero tolerance. when it comes to conduct, you have to exercise judgment. to be clear, we set high standards for propriety and personal contact, but in dealing with such cases, which are cases of human frailties, we are also very cognizant of the impact that our actions have on innocent parties, including families, especially the spouses and their children, and so we have to find the right balance between exercising compassion and sensitivity, while upholding the fundamental requirement of our responsibilities and trust of singaporeans. so the prime minister has explained his decision in the press conference. i'm sure there will be more questions in parliament next week and we will deal with them at that stage mr but why did it take _ them at that stage mr but why did it take years, _ them at that stage mr but why did it take years, i _ them at that stage mr but why did it take years, i understand | did it take years, i understand it takes a couple of weeks to

make the announcement because of those concerns, but why did it take so long, and especially when the prime minister says it was inappropriate? you know, wouldn't it come across as somewhat double standard that the affair was somewhat hidden as a secret?— as a secret? well, we don't olice as a secret? well, we don't police the _ as a secret? well, we don't police the private _ as a secret? well, we don't police the private lives - as a secret? well, we don't police the private lives of i as a secret? well, we don't| police the private lives of all our mps. when the information was first made known to the prime minister, as he has already made known in the press conference, he had asked them to stop, but we didn't know what was going on, until subsequently the prime minister found out again, and we spoke to them in february this year, and learned that this was continuing, and he accepted the resignation then, and then arrangements were made to the resignation of the speaker later on. so i think these timelines have been explained, on the permissible go through in parliament if need be. i in parliament if need be. i want to sign a code of conduct

for ministers, they are expected to act according to the high standards of honesty, integrity and diligence in the exercise of their public duties. as we mentioned, you are tipped to be the next prime minister of the country. when you have acted differently if the scandal happened under your watch? ~ ., the scandal happened under your watch? ~ . , , ., watch? well, i mean, this is a hypothetical— watch? well, i mean, this is a hypothetical situation. - watch? well, i mean, this is a hypothetical situation. what l watch? well, i mean, this is a hypothetical situation. what i | hypothetical situation. what i can say is, you know, since being appointed as the deputy secretary—general of the pa ep, this is only in november, recently, i have been taking a lot more time to get involved in party matters and to learn about how the party operates and works, and that is something i have been doing much more so in recent times. i have had more experience on the policy front, but on party matters, it is something i am learning, and that has been with the recent spate of incidents, has indeed been, you

know, going through each one of them has also been an opportunity for me to learn and reflect on how, as a party, for me as a party leader in the future, i can do better, and we can continue to learn from these setbacks and make the party stronger and more effective in the future. in terms of _ effective in the future. in terms of extramarital affairs, is it now a zero tolerance policy, given all the scandals? we have never adopted that approach. as i said, it's different. corruption and wrongdoing, criminal wrongdoing, criminal wrongdoing, we have zero tolerance. when it comes to personal conduct and extramarital affairs, we have never taken that same approach, because every case is different. we have to look at the circumstances of the case, the circumstances of the case, the individuals concerned, and we also have to consider the parties involved, including many innocent parties. so those sorts of cases, when it comes to conduct, as i mentioned just now, we deal with it case by

case, we exercise compassion, sensitivity where necessary, but we want to uphold the trust that we have in singaporeans at the same time.— the same time. and of course there was _ the same time. and of course there was more, _ the same time. and of course there was more, i _ the same time. and of course there was more, i guess, - there was more, i guess, serious scandal of that corruption. you said you are learning from these experiences. what is the lesson that you've learned from the last couple of weeks?- that you've learned from the last couple of weeks? well, the main points _ last couple of weeks? well, the main points overall, _ last couple of weeks? well, the main points overall, when - last couple of weeks? well, the main points overall, when you | main points overall, when you look at these incidents is trust that we have with singaporeans is very critical. and i am determined to make sure we continue to uphold this trust. eventually, ifi sure we continue to uphold this trust. eventually, if i do have a chance to take over, if i do, i know that it's notjust about me taking over, because i also have to earn that trust with singaporeans myself. i have to win their confidence and mandate to lead the country, so i will work doubly hard to make sure that i will be able to win and earn the trust of singaporeans.- and earn the trust of singaporeans. and earn the trust of sinaa oreans. ., ., ,., and earn the trust of sina-aoreans. ., ., .,

singaporeans. how would you do that, though. — singaporeans. how would you do that, though, because _ singaporeans. how would you do that, though, because you - singaporeans. how would you do that, though, because you do . that, though, because you do have the presidential election later this year, and also, you know, what would you do to re—enact trust? for example, as we mentioned, singapore has some of the ministers, and especially when the argument is thatis especially when the argument is that is to discourage things like corruption, i mean, that kind of defeats the whole argument, doesn't it? i mean would you for example consider their salaries to be reviewed? what would you do differently to re—enact trust? what would you do differently to re-enact trust? presidential elections is — to re-enact trust? presidential elections is a _ to re-enact trust? presidential elections is a different - elections is a different matter, that is an election to select the individual who takes up select the individual who takes up the highest office of the land and i am confident singaporeans will choose the best candidate with the character, ability and experience to take up this office. it is not a boat for the government.- office. it is not a boat for the government. but he is a former minister _ the government. but he is a former minister from - the government. but he is a former minister from the i the government. but he is a j former minister from the pa the government. but he is a i former minister from the pa p. former ministerfrom the pa p. do you think these scandals could actually affect this election?— could actually affect this election? , , ., ., election? he is his own man. i mean, election? he is his own man. i mean. we _ election? he is his own man. i mean. we have _ election? he is his own man. i mean, we have had _ election? he is his own man. i mean, we have had former- mean, we have had former presidents, previous presidents, previous presidents, who were also former members of the pa p and

they have acted very independently. so he is his own man, he will make his own case of why singaporeans can trust him. i am sure in due course when elections come. can him. i am sure in due course when elections come.- him. i am sure in due course when elections come. can i ask ou one when elections come. can i ask you one more _ when elections come. can i ask you one more time _ when elections come. can i ask you one more time about i when elections come. can i ask you one more time about the i you one more time about the salaries, when you consider reviewing?— salaries, when you consider reviewing? the basic point is we start with _ reviewing? the basic point is we start with a _ reviewing? the basic point is we start with a very - reviewing? the basic point is we start with a very high i we start with a very high foundation of trust in singapore. singaporeans know this is how our system works, this is how our system works, this is how we do things in singapore. when cases come up, we explain to singaporeans, we investigate thoroughly, we do not sweep anything under the carpet, even if it may be potentially embarrassing to the party... mr lawrence one, thank ou so party... mr lawrence one, thank you so much- — party... mr lawrence one, thank you so much. we _ party... mr lawrence one, thank you so much. we will _ party... mr lawrence one, thank you so much. we will continue i you so much. we will continue do they do _ you so much. we will continue do they do that. _ you so much. we will continue do they do that. that - you so much. we will continue do they do that. that is i you so much. we will continue do they do that. that is it i you so much. we will continue do they do that. that is it for l do they do that. that is it for the programme. _ do they do that. that is it for the programme. thank i do they do that. that is it for the programme. thank you | do they do that. that is it for. the programme. thank you so much for watching. glenn hello, there. here in the uk, it was another

quite cool day on tuesday. by contrast, southern europe, in sicily, temperatures reached 46 degrees. this is the temperature anomaly map. the blues are where it's colder than normal. the reds are where it's hotter than normal. the hotter than normal. heat is really getting squeezed the heat is really getting squeezed down towards the south of europe. a significant drop in temperature on the way across italy in the next 2a to 48 hours. the heat lasts a bit longer in greece, but even here, it will be cooler by the end of the weekend, not as windy, either. some northern parts of europe have been seeing severe storms. here in the uk, our weather continues to come in from the atlantic. and that cloud that we saw there is going to bring some rain into western areas on wednesday, further east, maybe a little bit warmer than it was on tuesday. but it will be a chilly start, where we have the clearer skies — three degrees in scotland, six or seven across some southern parts of england and wales. in between, not quite so cold, first thing, because there'll be more cloud showers left over from overnight. most of the showers on wednesday will be across northern england, perhaps southern scotland, not as widespread as we saw today. there will be some sunshine,

but it does cloud over from the west. rain in northern ireland by lunchtime over the irish sea into wales and the south—west of england during the afternoon. that'll keep the temperatures a bit lower. but ahead of that, with some sunshine for a while across scotland, eastern england, temperatures should be a bit higher than what we had on tuesday. now, this weather front will take that rain eastwards on wednesday night. it means a lot warmer night, actually, but it means quite a cloudy start to thursday and a bit misty and murky as well. could hang on to the rain from overnight across northern scotland. it may well linger through the english channel, but elsewhere, as it slowly brightens up and we see a little bit of sunshine, that could trigger a few more sharp showers through the day. there will be a lot of cloud around it. it'll feel quite muggy, actually. a warmer day for western areas, and again, in the east, temperatures about 23 degrees. quick look ahead to friday, still got the chance of showers around, maybe not quite so many. and those temperatures, not really. king at 23, perhaps 2a in eastern areas, maybe a bit cooler for western scotland

and northern ireland, certainly cooling off then across southern parts of europe. but what about here in the uk? our weather is not changing too much, still dominated by low pressure, as we head into the weekend, with the wetter weather across northern parts of the uk.

hello and welcome to asia business report.

china appoints a new head for the central bank as top official signal more support for a slumping economy. and it is the start of earning season for big tech. oath make alphabet and microsoft have reported strong profits for the last quarter. —— alphabet. welcome to asia business report. let's begin this morning in china because while the removal of its foreign minister has been making headlines, beijing has listed a new governor for its central bank. taking the helm of the time of the chinese economy is single slumping activity. the top decision—making body in beijing had also earlier pledged to shore up support for the economy. earlier i spoke to someone who explained the direction the bank could take now. he

explained the direction the bank could take now. he has a reputation _ bank could take now. he has a reputation of _ bank could take now. he has a reputation of reputation i bank could take now. he has a reputation of reputation and i reputation of reputation and compliance and is