0ne expert tells us the future is bright. Good morning, it is 8 00am in singapore, 1 00am in the morning in london, and 8 30am in pyongyang, as officials from the north korean regime exchange in notjust a war of words with the us, but a battle over what those words mean. The countrys foreign minister has accused the us of declaring war. Ri yong ho was responding to a tweet by President Trump that had said north koreas leadership wouldnt be around for, quote, much longer. It is the latest round of heated rhetoric between the two countries. Translation this is clearly a declaration of war. All the nations participating in United Nations should remember it was the United States which is declared war on our country. The un charter stipulates individual Member States right to self defence. Since the us declared war on our country, we have every right to take countermeasures, including shooting down us strategic bombers, even when theyre not yet inside the air space border of our country. The question of who wont be around much longer will be answered then. The white house has dismissed the statement as absurd, and it has also condemned north koreas claim that it has the right to shoot down us bombers even if they arent in north koreas airspace. Its never appropriate for a country to shoot down another countrys aircraft when its over international waters. Our goal is still the same. We continue to seek the peaceful denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. Thats our focus doing that through both the maximum diplomatic and economic pressures as possible at this point. So we have heard from north korea and the us, but what about the International Community . Well, the former secretary general of the United Nations has told the bbc he believes the situation on the Korean Peninsula is the most serious since the end of the korean war, in 1953. Ban ki moon said it was undesirable to see both america and north korea use threatening language. Even during the height of the cold war, including the soviet union, they have never threatened to use Nuclear Weapons unless they are attacked by Nuclear Weapons. But north korea has blatantly and publicly threatened that they will strike the United States with Nuclear Weapons. Now, they have threatened again to test the Hydrogen Bomb in the pacific ocean. We have never seen this kind of a blatant threat. There is concern among others at the un that the tone of rhetoric being used could lead to fatal misunderstandings, as our reporter nada tawfik explains. If youve looked in the past couple of weeks, north korea has really ignored the recent Un Security Council resolutions to try to get them to pull back from their Nuclear Programme. In response, the us has shown force by sending, just as early as saturday, bombers into the region. The closest theyve gone north of the demilitarised zone in the 21st century, just again to show that President Donald Trump has military options in dealing with north korea. I think both sides are trying to show that they are not going to back down. Kim jong un clearly sees his Nuclear Programme is necessary to the survival of his regime. Donald trump knows this is an issue which it cant pass on to the next president , that he has to deal with this in his term. So i think many experts say, both sides know that a war is not in anybodys interest, but i think right now at United Nations there is clearly this worry that miscalculations or misunderstandings could happen as these kind of. This rhetoric gets increasingly more personal, and as they kind of wont row back from it and takea they kind of wont row back from it and take a break to talk about the next steps forward. Our other top story this hour five days after Hurricane Maria battered puerto rico, the island is still struggling to recover, and conditions are getting worse. The white house has said it will continue to do everything it can to provide assistance to those affected. At least three million residents are still without power. Cbs correspondent David Begnaud is in puerto rico. The governor of puerto rico tells us that more aid has arrived, but the question is, where is it . We have for the last five days been driving across the northern part of the country, from west to east, and we have not seen distribution lines, or convoys bringing relief aid. The United States government says, for example, millions of litres of water have arrived. But again, we ask, where is it . The governor says, i promise you, its here. In terms of hospitals, were told fuel is being sent to them, hospitals are being prioritised. There was a tweet earlier today from a doctor in puerto rico that said we have run out of diesel at the childrens hospital, and children will die if we dont get fuel. There was a dire situation at the airport this morning in san juan this morning. People have literally been sleeping on the floor for the last three to four nights, hoping to get off of this island, people who have not had food or water, people in need of dialysis, Blood Pressure medication, blood thinner medication. We saw children stripped naked by their parents, sleeping in sweat in strollers. The lines at the baggage counter were dark, there were no agents, and there were probably 1,000 people in line this morning. Now, it was cooler outside, but nobody wanted to go outside because they didnt want to lose their place in line. People were literally panicking. Also this hour china has largely blocked the whatsapp messaging app. It is the latest move by beijing to step up surveillance, ahead of a big communist Party Gathering next month. Whatsapp was the last of facebook products to still be available in mainland chinas. The move by beijing is a big setback for chief executive Mark Zuckerberg who has been pushing to re enter the chinese market. The companys Facebook Service has been blocked in china since 2009, and the image sharing app instagram is also unavailable. Venezuela has accused the United States of psychological terrorism, after it imposed travel restrictions on some government officials and their families. The Foreign Ministry said travel ban lists like the one announced on sunday by washington were incompatible with international law, and were a form of terrorism. The ban on eight countries included venezuela for the first time, as well as north korea and chad. Former us congressman Anthony Weiner has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for sending sexually explicit messages to a teenage girl in 2016. The scandal played a role in the president ial election, because his wife worked as an aide to hillary clinton. Scientists have said that, while the numbers of giant pandas appears to be increasing, the spaces in which they can live are getting smaller. The International Union for the conservation of nature moved the panda from its endangered list last year. But the latest satellite imagery shows that the habitat for giant pandas was 1. 7 smaller in 2013 than in 1988, when the animal was listed as endangered. Britains prince harry and his girlfriend, the american actress meghan markle, have made their first public appearance together. The couple, who have mostly avoided the spotlight, were seen at the Invictus Games in toronto, an International Sporting event set up by the prince for injured soldiers. More on that story at bbc. Com. The german chancellor, angela merkel, may have secured a fourth term in office, but her party, the christian democrats, lost over a million voters to the far right in sundays election. Mrs merkel says she wants to win the voters who deserted her paty back, but she starts in a weaker position, and now faces months of Coalition Talks to try to form a stable government. Translation no question about it, we wa nt translation no question about it, we want a slightly better result, thatis we want a slightly better result, that is clear. We will carry out profound analysis, because we want to win back the voters of the afd by solving the problems and listening to their worries, and sometimes their fears. But above all, through good politics. Nearly 50,000 people have left their homes on the indonesian island of bali because of fears that a volcano could erupt for the first time in more than 50 years. The evacuations come after two days of heightened seismic activity around mount agung, with hundreds of tremors and signs of magma rising to the surface in recent days. Professor Richard Arculus is a geologist at the Australian National university, and he told me how likely it is that the volcano will erupt. The number of earthquakes has increased, and the level in the crust at which they are taking place has shallowed. The last few have been taking place within a couple of kilometres of the summit. So, in terms of probabilities of eruption, i would say its odds on, id say. Are you likely to know or see what the impact of it is likely to be . Depending on the size of the eruption. The indonesian authorities are very experienced in dealing with these kinds of things. They have a lot of eruptions in this country, and they have been successful at handling these disasters in the past. It all depends. If it has a major eruption of the size that took place 50 years ago, which injected a lot of ash into the atmosphere, that could have a considerable local and regional effect on, for example, air traffic. Yeah, that seems to be what many people are talking about, what happened there 50 years ago, because of its impact on the tourism industry. I mean, i know were not in the betting game, but should tourists who might be watching this programme, thinking about bali as a destination, be thinking against their travel plans . Well, i wouldnt personally, but one would have to be mentally prepared, that if an eruption took place and air traffic was disrupted, you might want to be prepared to sit around in bali for a while. The exclusion zone doesnt include the major tourist destinations, theyre protected by the topography. So ash might fall on them but thats tolerable. Its a question of when youre travelling away from bali, in the event of an eruption. You said the authorities there are very much prepared for a possible eruption. Just talk us through what the actual provisions might be now, that they are putting in place . Well, theyve evacuated a large number of people from the exclusion zone. And the size of the exclusion zone is based on the areas of the volcano that were devastated 50 years ago. So the plan really is that the volcano might behave in the same way, and theyre moving people away, particularly from the valleys and close flanks of the volcano, because those were destroyed by the dense power crust flows, these flows of lava and ash and dust that came rapidly down the flanks of the volcano, up to 100km h or more, and theyre very hot, and theres no getting away from them. So the exclusion zone is essentially on the northern, eastern, and south to south western flanks. Thats not a place to be, and thats why theyve moved people out. Of course the problem is taking care of these people. There are agricultural workers, they have crops and animals to take care of. And the longer this goes on, the uneasier those people will be. Theres a loss of income, of course, for these people, and of course, theres 50,000 people that now have been moved. Thats a lot of people to have sitting around waiting for something to happen. Youre watching newsday on the bbc. Still to come on the programme if at first you dont succeed, try, try, and try again. We meet 13 year old lily rice, who hasjust made history upside down. And australia catching up on the space race. Ben johnson, the fastest man on earth, is flying home to canada in disgrace. All the athletes should be clean going into the games. Im just happy that justice is served. It is a simple fact that this morning, these people were in their homes. Tonight, those homes have been burnt down by serbian soldiers and police. All the taliban positions along here have been strengthened, presumably in case the americans invade. Its no use having a secret service which cannot preserve its own secrets against the world. And so the British Government has no option but to continue this action, and even after any adverse judgement in australia. Concorde had crossed the atlantic faster than any plane ever before, breaking the record by six minutes. This is newsday on the bbc. Im rico hizon in singapore. Thanks forjoining us. Im Babita Sharma here in london. The white house has dismissed as absurd north korean claims that President Trump has declared war on the country in a comment on twitter. Fears are growing that a volcano could erupt on the island of bali 50,000 people have been evacuated from their homes near mount agung. The taxi company uber has admitted it has made mistakes but insists it will appeal against the decision by transport for london not to renew its operating licence. It has promised to make changes and will meet london transport officials for further talks. That story is popular at bbc. Com. Lets take a look at some front pages from around the world. Chinese troops taking part in live fire drills is the picture on the front page of the south China Morning post. These are the first combat Training Drills at chinas only overseas military base in djibouti, where troops had to deal with temperatures around a0 degrees celsius. And we were just talking about uber, well, its troubles in london might be good news for one of its competitors, thats according to the financial times. The american Ride Hailing Company lyft now its sights set has its sights set on the city while uber tries to have its licence reinstated. A lukewarm welcome for apples new iphones in beijing is covered by the business pages of the china daily. The lack of queues and enthusiasm at Flagship Stores is being put down to home grown brands like vivo and huawei becoming more popular. These are the top stories of key publications around the world. Babita whats trending . I knew it was only a matter of time before i said this you are trending, rico because of this. Iam here i am here in asia to spread kindness. You know, elmo, that is what we need today. Rico interviewing elmo from sesame street is proving very popular on bbc. Com. You can see more you can see more of you can see more of it on the website. I cant believe was not here for that. You missed it. Well, thank you for all our viewers who have watched the interview. Plenty of countries are betting big on on the space industry, developing communication satellites and exploiting technologies like gps tracking. The latest country to get in on the act is australia, one of the few major developed countries not to have its own National Space agency. Alan duffy is associate professor of astrophysics at Swinburne University in melbourne. He told me about australias space ambitions. This has been a long time coming. Australia is one of two developed nations lacking its own space agency. We have a great legacy in space. We built and launched ourfirst satellite 50 years ago. It puts a third in the world after the us and the ussr. Weve managed to do without a space agency in the meantime and missed a lot of opportunities. Hopefully, with this new National Space agency, we can rightfully claim our place as part of this worldwide endeavour and do justice to our history and legacy in this field. It is indeed a big business right now. More than us 400 billion. Where could the strength of australia be now, in which areas of the space industry . Australia poses a unique challenge as a nation. Were a sparsely populated, enormous landmass. Space imagery is really key. Its our strength, we spent a lot of money accessing other nations images of our own region. The first thing i suspect the National Space agency will do will be create a team and bring together the expertise in space imagery so we can both benefit everything from farmers and agriculture, telling them about moisture in their soils to fisheries and Industries Like the mining sector. We can have great observations of our own and landmass. Landmass. Australia will absolutely reap the benefits of this new National Space agency that brings together all the people that can build and develop space imagery and those who need it. Votes are being counted after an independence referendum in iraqs kurdistan region. The poll went ahead despite fierce objections from the Central Government in baghdad, and from other countries with kurdish minorities. The referendum result is expectedly to be heavily in favour of independence but it wont trigger an immediate attempt to break away. 0ur middle east correspondent 0rla guerin reports now from the city of irbil. Waiting patiently, as they have for generations. Kurds arriving before the polls opened, defying the International Community and the government in baghdad. First in line, 65 year old azahd. I came here at 6am, he told us. This is the greatest day of my life. And for many, its a day of remembrance, like the ali family, who lostjafr, a proud peshmerga fighter killed last year by the so called islamic state. His widow says the vote has brought him back. Translation its a very happy day for him and for us. We feel like he is right here. He sacrificed himself for this land. His blood was not shed in vain. Then, at last, time to cast her ballot. We hope that we are getting ourfreedom, she says. But this vote is being watched anxiously by neighbouring states and by the west. The fear is it could spark new conflict and not only in iraq. The kurds say that whats happening here today is about self determination, about democracy in action. Far from trying to stop them, they say the International Community should be giving them strong support. There is a real sense here of history in the making. And whatever comes next, the votes being cast today could reshape the middle east. Even before the result, kurds took to the streets in the city of kirkuk. We are free now. The oil rich city is controlled by Kurdish Forces but also claimed by the Central Government in baghdad. And the divisions here are now all too clear. In arab neighbourhoods, we found a very stark contrast. No referendum fever here. Riyad didnt vote and is worried about the future of iraq. Do you feel like you might lose your country . Yes, he says, we didnt before, but we do now. But for the kurds, tonight, time to celebrate. They say the referendum is a mandate for negotiations with baghdad. They wont be redrawing borders or declaring independence in the morning, but they have passed a point of no return. 0rla guerin, bbc news, irbil. A 13 Year Old Girl from wales has become the first female in europe to complete a wheelchair backflip. Lily rice is trying to raise funds to take part in the wheelchair motocross world championships. What a backflip you have been watching newsday. Stay with us, well be looking at a new business in singapore that hopes to relieve your stress. And before we go, weve already brought you one story about britains prince harry. But take a look at this picture. Now it appears prince harry has found his lookalike and its prime ministerjustin trudeaus official photographer. The photographer, adam scotti, was photographing mr trudeau at the Invictus Games in toronto when mr trudeau turned the tables by grabbing the camera to snap a picture of the two redheads. Hello. The week started on a fairly quiet note across many parts of the british isles. We had a weak weather front close by which really pepped up the cloud at cross central and eastern areas. 0ut west, different story. Sunshine to be had but first thing on monday and again late on in the day, some areas were quite badly affected by fog. There is the weather front gradually fizzling all the while as the pressure builds in from the continent. But there will still be a legacy of cloud first up and i think you will really notice it in the first part of the day. Leaden skies but look at the temperatures, 13 15 for many. Just a bit cooler when the skies today clear for a time overnight. There could be some fog patches around. Leaden skies for many of us for the first part of the day but you get a sense from the big picture that as the day goes on, there is greater hope of seeing sunshine. One of the spots may be scotland. A little bit cloudy along the eastern shores. Just the chance of one or two isolated showers across the northern half of britain. Northern ireland, faring quite nicely away from the noticeable breeze. There is the chance, come mid afternoon, of seeing a few showers across the north and east midlands, maybe to east anglia as well. Many of those will tend to fade if you see them at all come evening. Temperatures top 20 degrees or so. A little bit more in a way of breeze on wednesday across the north east quarter of scotland. The freshening wind and the cloud filling in all the while across northern ireland, and into the far south west of england and wales. The weather front works its way in from the atlantic. Generally speaking, the further east you are, the drier and finer your day will stay. Top temperature, again, not bad for this time of year. Cooler in the breeze in the far north east. Thankfully, the Fourth One Day International between england and the west indies is going to be at the oval in the south east corner of central london. That should not be interrupted by the rain until perhaps very late on in the day because the front does make progress later on on wednesday. In the first part of thursday, it will still be producing quite a wet start to the day across eastern parts of the british isles. Once that is away, a decent day for many. Im Babita Sharma with bbc world news. Our top story north koreas foreign minister has accused donald trump of declaring war on his country with a tweet. The white house says the suggestion is absurd, and has condemned north koreas claim that it now has the right to shoot down us bombers, even if they are outside its air space. China has largely blocked the whatsapp messaging service, the last of facebook products to be available there. Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg had been pushing to re enter the chinese market. And this video is trending on bbc. Com a 13 Year Old Girl from wales has become the first female in europe to complete a wheelchair backflip. Lily rice is raising funds to take part in the wheelchair motocross world championships. Thats all from me for now. Stay with bbc news. And the top story here in the uk the labour party is planning to take over pfi contracts should it win power