Voiceover live from our studios in london and singapore, this is bbc world news. Its newsday. Hello, its seven in the morning in singapore, midnight here in london and 1am in brussels, where negotiators appear to be close to a dealfor britain to leave the european union. Now, isay appear, because despite the optimism nothing is certain. An agreement could be finalised at the eu summit in brussels later on thursday. But any deal would still need the approval of both european leaders and the british parliament. The bbcs Laura Kuennsberg reports. He is in a rush, a terrible rush. Keep working, he says. Eu leaders will be there in the afternoon, and the negotiators on both sides will have to give their verdict to their political masters. The big players in europe desperately want this all to come to a conclusion. Everyone understands english, but nobody understands england. Laughter. And these negotiations are taking part somewhere in this not very beautiful building. Can there be a new understanding, after so many confusions along the way . It matters most for the prime minister, who swept into office with a promise to fix this, his fate bound up with what happens next on brexit. And, just like theresa may, he has a party and parliament that is divided, brexiteers whose votes he needs. He must keep them all on board. Obviously, standing here, hoping to be able to vote for a deal which amounts to a brexit worth having. But as ive said elsewhere, you know, theres thousands of people counting on us to make sure this really is a brexit worth having. They have been in and out of number 10, just like earlier. The dup, johnsons Northern Irish allies. Well, were continuing the discussions, and no doubt well Say Something later on today. Who are nervous about what comes next, reluctant to give away too much in a compromise over customs, with worries about the union in the future. And, believe it or not, secrecy about the deal is so tight that even the cabinet dont really know whats next. Its all going marvellously. You know as much as i do. But, in the morning, it is the continents opinions that matter. France and germany would give any draft deal the same inspection. Can brexit happen soon, without too much disruption for them . I want to believe we are finalising it, the french president said. Well talk about it tomorrow. Angela merkel more convinced in recent days it can be done. But, to use the irritating but helpful old adage, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. The two sides seem closer tonight to a deal than they have been for months and months, but sources in the dup believe there still are gaps there, and if one thing goes wrong, it could all go wrong, horribly and fast. Good sentiments tonight do not mean signatures on a page tomorrow. And, if borisjohnson manages to clinch it and play the hero, in parliament, swathes of mps are ready to stand and fight. Laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. Lets take a look at some of the days other news. The us house of representatives has voted overwhelmingly to condemn president trumps decision to withdraw American Forces in North Eastern syria. The vote which saw dozens of republicans voting in favour of the condemnation came as the president once again defended the move. Speaking earlier, he made it clear how he felt about the kurds, who have been americas allies against islamic state. In the meantime, our soldiers are not in harm paths mark way, as they shouldnt be, as two countries fight over land that has nothing to do with us does make harms way. And the kurds are much safer now, they know how to fight. As they said, they are 19 jewels, they arent edges was not go back and take a look. You have to go back and take a look. You have to go back and take a look they are not angels. Syria will probably have a partner with russia, whoever they may have, i wish them all a lot of luck. But you have a lot of countries over there that hate isis as much as we do, in some cases, probably more. So they can take care of isis. We have them captured. United states captured them. Some were released just for effect to make us look like oh, gee, weve got to get right back in there. President trump on syria. Also making news today more than 300 people have been arrested globally following the takedown of the Worlds Largest dark web site. Named welcome to video, the website hosted more than 200,000 videos containing images of child sexual abuse. Arrests have taken place across 38 countries, with the sites owner, south koreanjong woo son facing nine fresh us indictments. Qatar has announced plans to completely scrap its restrictive migrant permit system thats long been criticised by human rights activists for being a form of modern slavery. The labour minister says qatar will also introduce a minimum wage from 2020. The kefala system required Migrant Workers to obtain exit permits in order to leave the country, and blocked them from changing companies without their employers permission. Bulgarian police have identified 15 fans they suspect are responsible for subjecting black england players to racist abuse and arrested six of them. Englands euro 2020 qualifying match against bulgaria was stopped twice during the first half on monday following racist chanting by some supporters. Bulgarias football chief resigned on tuesday and european footballs governing body uefa has opened Disciplinary Proceedings against bulgaria. The duke and duchess of cambridge have spent the third day the International Olympic committee has announced plans to move the tokyo 2020 marathon and race walking events over 800 kilometres south of japans capital city, to sapporo. Athletes struggled in last months test event and organisers seem eager to avoid a repeat of what occurred at the recent world athletics championships in doha, where almost half the field failed to complete the womens marathon because of sweltering heat and humidity. Lets get more now on syria. And turkeys decision to move into northern syria. Its emerged that President Donald Trump warned turkeys president erdogan dont be a tough guy and dont be a fool this comes following mr trumps decision to pull us troops out of northern syria. That move was widely seen as giving turkey the green light to move in against the kurds. President trump has been heavily criticised over the decision. This was a letter that he wrote to president erdogan on october nine, and that was before the turks started to move into syria, and we all know about the phone call that was made about that time. But this is the first time we are seeing a letter. Ill just read is the first time we are seeing a letter. Illjust read you a couple of sections. Dear mr president , lets work out a good deal you dont want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, andi slaughtering thousands of people, and i dont want to be responsible forward to storing the circus economy and good us and i will. And it goes on to say, we will look upon you favourably if you get this donein upon you favourably if you get this done in the right and humane way, it will look upon you for ever if good things dont happen. Dont be a tough guy dont be a fool ill call you later. This is a letter that has only just call you later. This is a letter that has onlyjust been released, already raising eyebrows for its, rather, as they do list, undiplomatic language. To say the least. Yes, quite unusual. Criticism coming from many quarters, quite surprisingly republicans as well. There was a vote in congress on syria. Yes. Criticism coming up the president from all sides, including his own party. More than 100 republican members of the house of representatives joining the democrats will mark democrats to vote in favour of a resolution is essentially condemning the president s actions and his decision to ta ke president s actions and his decision to take troops, us forces, out of syria. And it isntjust in the house, the senate, lindsey graham, generally a very close ally of the president , hasnt always been but has been in recent months, criticising the president in extremely strong terms saying he is deluded, essentially, to say that the kurds are now in a better position. This gives the impression ofa position. This gives the impression of a president really on the ropes, receiving a lot of criticism on this issue like no other issue that we have seen in recent months. Peter bowes speaking earlier to lewis. The leader of one of hong kongs largest pro democracy groups has been taken to hospital after being attacked. Reports say a group of up to five men with hammers left him with head injuries. This came hours after chaotic scenes in hong kongs parliament forced its leader, carrie lam, to abandon her speech. It was the first full meeting of Parliament Since it was stormed by pro democracy demonstrators injuly. Eric lai, is an organiserfrom the hong kong civil human rights front. Jimmy shan is now resting in hospital and medical doctors are taking care of him very well. What we found is that he did have some kind of injury on his brain but he could still speak and tell us his condition so far. Will this violence againstjimmy shan and other pro democracy colleagues have a Chilling Effect on your the activists and basically discourage them from other planned demonstrations . We are not afraid of any kind of political threat or the spread of political terrorism from anyone who tries to crack down or threaten peoplejoining protests. Indeed, such spread of political assault against protesters, activists and lawmakers has begun since august. And jimmy, this activists and lawmakers has begun since august. Andjimmy, this is activists and lawmakers has begun since august. And jimmy, this is the second time for my colleaguejimmy shan to be assaulted. So we learned that this is the way that they threaten people to go on the streets, but were not afraid. You are not afraid, you are not backing down. But listening to carrie lams speech yesterday, she is not changing approach, and your group is also not backing down from your five demands. So, what is your endgame now . Carrie lam bertens hong kongs society will resume to a normal state, to the status quo, but it wont. If she does not agree to the five demands at least, the top priority of the demands, an independent enquiry to investigate the police, the people will continue to fight into all the demands are realised. What you make of the us house of representatives and the us, eric, passing the hong kong human rights and democracy act . How might this development change things for you and your fellow pro democracy protesters . You and your fellow pro democracy protesters . Many of the citizens in hong kong are very encouraged and feel they are supported by the International Community after the passage of the building. But also, we are also realistic that the bill also needs to be passed in other states. We can see the International Community watching the situation in hong kong and china as well as well as the hong kong government. People feel we are supported and backed by so many people and groups around the world for us to fight for democracy. Eric lai there from the hong kong civil rights front. Youre watching newsday on the bbc. Still to come on the programme as the world solar challenge race nears the finishing line we talk to one of the team leaders about the challenges of using the sun for fuel also on the programme how celebraties and politicians have become vicitms of the damaging use of deepfakes on the internet. Parts of San Francisco least affected by the earthquake are returning to life, but in the marina area where most of the damage was done, they are more conscious than ever of how much has been destroyed. In the 19 years since he was last here, hes gone from being a little known revolutionary to an experienced and successful diplomatic operator. It was a 20 pound bomb, which exploded on the fifth floor of the grand hotel, ripping a hole in the front of the building. This government will not weaken. Democracy will prevail. It fills me with humility and gratitude to know that i have been chosen as the recipient of this foremost of earthly honours. This catholic nation held its breath for the men they call the 33. And then, bells tolled nationwide to announce the first rescue, and chile let out an almighty roar. This is newsday on the bbc. Im rico hizon, in singapore. Im lewis vaughanjones, in london. Our top stories frantic efforts are still underway to reach a last minute brexit deal on the eve of a eu summit in brussels. The us house of representatives has voted overwhelmingly to condemn president trumps decision to withdraw American Forces for North Eastern syria. Lets take a look at some front pages from around the world the South China Morning Post concentrates on the troubles in hong kong, reporting that china has slammed the us house of representatives for passing a bill in support of Anti Government protestors. The japan times looks at the aftermath of the most powerful typhoon to hit the country in decades, reporting that the cabinet is set to dip into reserves and approve hundreds of millions of yen of extra spending. This will go towards water and shelter. And finally wine buffs should take a look at the business times. It says china is fast emerging as a frontrunner in wine circles and is now the home of Award Winning tipples like big reds and even sake. No wonder the likes of rothschild have been investing heavily in the region. Now, what stories are sparking discussions online . Well its a fashion show with a difference. This is a zero gravity version of a catwalk. Its Virgin Galactic unveiling spacesuit designs for tourists to wear in 2020. Richard bransons company has suffered delays and setbacks its bid to take paying customers into space. But it did manage to send a test passenger to the edge of space in february. Legislators in california have made it illegal to create or distribute so called deep fake images in the run up to an election. Deep Fake Technology can be used to manipulate images, to make it look as if a person said or did something that never happened. Researchers say that theres an equally dangerous trend of using the technology in pornographic material. Megha mohan spoke to a victim of deep Fake Technology, the former disney actress, bella thorne. At a party in beverly hills, the hollywood actress bella thorne is raising awareness of Mental Health for a generation growing up online. A recent worry is deepFake Technology. She has seen her likeness used on hundreds of online, non consensual pornographic films. Deepfake videos are when someones image can be manipulated to generate convincing representations of acts that never happened. We need to be more vigilant with what we trust from the internet. This is an extreme form of deepfake, because, first of all, it is real time. Yeah. And the second thing is that ijust need a single picture of that person. In seconds, Computer Scientist hao li can be anyone, from chinas president xijinping, to Scarlett Joha nsson. DeepFake Technology is becoming easier and its most commonly used for pornography. Actress bella thorne, who starred in films like blended, has seen a video of her crying over the death of her father cut into a pornographic film. And then im, like, saying, something, something, but i miss him. 0bviously my father is dead. And then they put that together with a girl masturbating, and this video is going around and everyone really is thinking that it is actually me. I dont know how we regulate apps and things like that, because it is notjust going to be your favourite celebrity or your favourite this person or this person that you want to put in this app, because you can do it to your best friend in school, if you decide you hate them so much. You can send it around to this person, you can do it to a famous politician, this or that. Its a concern shared by the former head of security at facebook, alex stamos. He worries the software may be widely used within the year to target non celebrities, the likes of you and me. The executives at these platforms have realised that the people who have been saying, our tools are being used for harm, are starting to win out, that they were right, and there needs to be more investment. This is going to be another field where people are going to specialise and spend years of their career trying to figure out how to stop it. Developers say, as the technology improves, deepfakes will become more prevalent. In raising awareness, they hope to make us question the authenticity of what we view online. Megha mohan, bbc news. Earlier this week we brought you a story on the world solar challenge where students from around the world race cars theyve designed and built themselves across some of australias most remote terrain. There is one catch the vehicles are powered almost entirely by the sun. The race started on sunday, with participants facing an almost 3,000 kilometre journey from darwin, in the northern territory, to adelaide, in south australia. Theyve passed through towns including tennant creek, Alice Springs and coober pedy. And after all that, it looks like today the Vattenfall Solar Team from the netherlands is poised to cross the finish line first. Their team leader Maud Diepeveen spoke to me from a road about 300 kilometres north of adelaide. As you can imagine, the signal was a little bit unstable in the middle of the outback, but she was in high spirits. Iam i am feeling really good right now. We have awoke super hard for the fast four days to become in the lead and to do everything today that we have worked for four more than a year, to have worked for four more than a yea r, to cross have worked for four more than a year, to cross the finish line, hopefully first, is an amazing feeling. No chance for the belgium tea m feeling. No chance for the belgium team overtaking you . Feeling. No chance for the belgium team overtaking you . Were going to try and keep them behind us. It is obviously going to get a lot more busy as we get into adelaide, there will be more traffic so it will depend on what the traffic will be like and how much sun there will be but we are not planning on letting them overtake us, not at all. You will not let them overtake you at all costs but tell us about the car, your solar car was make what is it capable of doing . It is built in a way that she does not just capable of doing . It is built in a way that she does notjust run on the sun but also on the wind so if we have crosswind from the front, we can sail on the wind a little bit because we made the wheel bearings like a sale so we always hope for quite hard wins so we not only is this sun but also the wind. Assuming that you win it, this race is not any kind of race, it is a solar race. What is the environmental message you are trying to send . Mainly what were trying to prove end of this is that we can try 3000 kilometres from the outback of australia just powered by the sun and all the teams that participate in this race want to prove that and we wa nt in this race want to prove that and we want to show Big Companies that, if we are able to do so, they should ta ke if we are able to do so, they should take a step towards sustainability and also trying to teach kids that with a car as cool as this one they should go into technical studies and figure out a better way to save our earth. How are you planning to celebrate if you win the race . Earth. How are you planning to celebrate if you win the race . |j earth. How are you planning to celebrate if you win the race . I am going to go out to the fountain in adelaide, celebrate with my team and eve ryo ne adelaide, celebrate with my team and everyone who woke super hard and praise everyone. Im going to see my pa rents. Praise everyone. Im going to see my parents. A praise everyone. Im going to see my pa rents. A lot praise everyone. Im going to see my parents. A lot of parents from the netherlands that had flown into adelaide to celebrate with us so it will be really exciting to see everyone. Good luck to them all. The duke and duchess of cambridge have visited a melting glacier as part of their tour of pakistan, travelling to the mountains of the hindu kush to see for themselves the effect of Global Warming. 0ur royal correspondent, jonny dymond, is travelling with them and sent this report. Even for the royals, it is a rocky road up the hindu kush. William and catherine came here to see firsthand the impact of a warming planet the retreat of the glaciers that, across these mountains, serve nearly a quarter of humanity. When the glaciers melt, they sent water tumbling down, when the glaciers melt, they send water tumbling down, flooding the region and then, once they are gone, there is nothing left for the rivers, the rivers that irrigate this hot, hard land. It is why the prince calls Global Warming and impending catastrophe. He came to learn but also to sound the alarm. 1. 6 billion people rely on this water behind us. I mean, that is an enormous amount of people who bare in mind, a lot of people now living urban lives, it is very hard to understand living in an urban environment where your water comes from and how precious the actual source of it all is. Blending in with the locals . Not quite but a nice try. Applause william and catherine went to a remote village to learn about life outside the big cities. And they were sent back with dancing and smiles and music ringing in the ears. Jonny dymond, bbc news, pakistan. You have been watching newsday. Im lewis vaughanjones, in london. And im rico hizon, in singapore. Stay with us. As the uk and eu inch closer to a brexit deal, a former us trade chief warns the uk should not expect special treatment from america. Thats all for now. Stay with bbc world news. Good morning. Wednesday started on a dull and good morning. Wednesday started on a dulland damp good morning. Wednesday started on a dull and damp mode for many parts of the country. 0nce dull and damp mode for many parts of the country. Once that rang cleared away, we did see some sunshine. A chance to dry off though. A lot of the ground is still saturated and if there are a couple of flood warnings still out there but following the sunshine, the clearer skies has made it will turn quite chilly, particularly for the eastern side of the uk. We have had the cloud early on, we have a clearer skies but out of the west with the swell of cloud producing showers and longer spells of rain and marks a position of what isa of rain and marks a position of what is a deep area of low pressure drifting towards the uk already arriving in western areas. Further east, with the clearer skies, temperatures may below enough in eastern scotland to give us a touch of frost. Further west, eastern scotland to give us a touch of frost. Furtherwest, mild. Eastern scotland to give us a touch of frost. Further west, mild. We have a few showers. The wheat breeze is picking up. The breeze. Showers pushing through the English Channel and moving inland to the south east of england and the midlands. In north east england in north east scotland, largely dry with decent sunshine. A much better day in north east scotland than on wednesday. 14 15 degrees is a near normalfor wednesday. 14 15 degrees is a near normal for this wednesday. 14 15 degrees is a near normalfor this time of wednesday. 14 15 degrees is a near normal for this time of year. Through thursday, increasing numbers of showers continuing through thursday evening and night, some heavy accompanied by blustery winds which will keep the temperature is a bit higher. Six eight degrees. We may stay in double figures across southern parts of england. More sunshine and showers to come on friday. A good deal around coastal areas. We will see them developing inland and some fairly frequent showers blown in one of the strongest of winds in the south west of england and wales. 12 15 degrees, those numbers not changing a great deal. Heading into the weekend, and remember at the moment low pressure is about here but as we move into the weekend, the low pressure is moving right across into the uk. It is not as deep an area of low pressure but it will continue to bring sunshine and showers. Further south, around coastal areas, developing, and slow moving rain and sundry downpours possible. But wendy and feeling cooler for northern scotla nd and feeling cooler for northern scotland and for northern ireland. The highest temperatures in the south east of england. A lot of shows to come on saturday. Through sunday, the showers become fewer but with the northerly breeze is it will turn cooler. Many of us to start of next week should be dry with some sunshine. This is bbc world news. Iam i am lewis vaughanjones. Our top story a brexit deal hangs in the balance with negotiators are still hard at work in brussels. A finalised brexit deal has still to be secured, but officials are said to have agreed the basis of a new arrangement. Eu leaders are holding a summit on thursday. A letter from donald trump warning turkeys president erdogan not to be a tough guy emerges, as the us house of representatives votes overwhelmingly to condemn mr trumps decision to withdraw American Forces from syria. And this story is doing well on bbc. Com. Actressjennifer aniston has taken instagram by storm attracting a massive 5 million followers in just 12 hours with her first ever Instagram Post a reunion selfie with her friends co stars. Thats it. Stay with bbc world news