i think we are looking at a return to the early situation that afflicted the malacca strait where the and the severity of issues come into place. i think there's one more element in it, the threat of extra—regional intervention as well. alright. this is indeed a major agreement that has to be signed by these three countries, but will it have the assistance of maybe the americans or the chinese, these two global powers? yes, i think if we go by the normal approach taken by asean countries, they will not want extra—regional direct intervention, meaning direct policing of the waters, but all financial, technical and training assistance will be welcome. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: the french national assembly election delivers another win for president macron — but on a very low turnout. there was a bomb in the city centre. a code word known to be one used by the ira was given. army bomb experts were examining a suspect van when there was a huge explosion. the south african parliament has destroyed the foundation of apartheid by abolishing the popul

then there is the straits of malacca in malaysia.ttlenecks, they are exposed to a number of hazards. security threats, climate change is probably the major threat, but also the potential for political interruptions. ad hoc export bans for example, stopping the flow of critical grain trade out of the checkpoints. how does climate change impact on this? climate change at the very basic level, all—weather at impacts on infrastructure. we can see it and our own streets. heavy rainfall, storms and floods, periods of drought, they can really affect the integrity of roads and railways and waterways. that is true across the world. climate change exacerbates those impacts, meaning we see more extreme weather and we see more extreme weather more frequently. the first thing that climate change will do in terms of worsening the problem is to worsen the impacts directly on those checkpoints. the other thing to bear in mind is that climate change will also increase global dependence on food trade to meet basic food demand. those countries that are

to respond to crises every hour, every day around the world from the north atlantic to the straits of malacca and the vast expanses of the pacific ocean and on the ground in 41 countries around the world, 140,000 sailors and marines are deployed today. maintaining maritime security, responding to humanitarian crisis and disaster. the value of our forward presence and our ability to conduct prompt sea-based operations is the surest the ternt to conflict and guarantor of our national interests. maintaining the scale of these operations relies upon our ability to maintain a high state of operational readiness. we have been increasingly challenged to do so by the growing imbalance between the size of the force, the operational demand placed on the force and the funding available to operate and sustain the force. years of combat and high operational tempo have stert accelerated the aging of our ships and aircraft, increased our maintenance requirement, drawn down munitions and supply parts and impacted training. budget constraints, budget uncertainty, continuing resolutions have exacerbated these

marine corps stand ready to respond ready to any crisis from the north atlantic, training, straits of malacca and the vast expanses of the pacific ocean and on the ground in 41 countries around the world, 110,000 sailors and marines one third of our fleet are deployed today conducting combat operations, international exercise, maintaining maritime security, providing security deterrence is in responding to humanitarian crisis and disaster. the value of our presence is sea -based operations is the surest deterrent. maintain this skill of these operations replies on a main high state of operational readiness. we been increasingly challenged to do so i the growing imbalance to the size of the force, operational to operate and sustain the force. years of combat and high operational tempo have asked accelerated the aging of our ships and aircraft and replace our maintenance requirement, supplied ports and have impacted training. budget constraints, budget uncertainty, continuing resolutions have exacerbated these issues and the net impact of being a decline in the material conditions of our ships