in singapore, this is bbc news — it's newsday. hello and welcome to the programme. we begin in afghanistan, where it's been just over 100 days since the taliban seized power. the united nations has warned of an impending humanitarian catastrophe, with over half the population at risk of going hungry this winter. the un now says its appeal for $600 million has reached its target and that the funds will now be directed at helping the 11 million most deprived people in the country. the bbc�*s yalda hakim is in kabul. she's been speaking to afghans about their lives now under taliban rule. it is early morning here, in a predominantly shia hazara community. the majority of the people sitting here our labourers. they are waiting to see if there is any work for them today. the taliban took over a country that was very much relied on international aid. when the taps were turned off the economy virtually collapsed. she tells me she is desperate. security is one of the biggest concerns for the community here. it was just six months ago that a major attack was launched on the sahidul alam a harder school, and girls school. almost 100 girls lost their lives. 0ne school. almost 100 girls lost their lives. one of the bombs went off just their lives. one of the bombs went offjust behind me. another over there, and then a third went off over there. it was designed to kill as many girls as possible. that attack happened under the old regime, but isis-k happened under the old regime, but isis—k has continued to target afghanistan's shia target afg hanistan�*s shia community. target afghanistan's shia community. mahommed's two daughters were caught up in that attack. he thought he had lost them. the taliban have promised security for all afghans, but many here say they still don't feel safe. as we try and interview the head teacher, the boys make it very clear they are allowed back. but across this country most teenage girls are not. since the taliban took over there been told to wait at home until there is a nationwide policy. lives of girls across this country are waiting to hear from them. this country are waiting to hearfrom them. —— millions. even before the taliban came to power, there was a humanitarian crisis in this country. dow —— drought, aid cuts, and the economic collapse have told crisis into catastrophe. we've just come to the indira gandhi children's hospital where there are many cases of children suffering from acute malnutrition. this girl is three, so weak she can barely open her eyes. this one is nearly one. it's not just patients suffering, it's notjust patients suffering, healthcare staff have not been paid for months. every single person i'm speaking to has the same story, they can't pay for their ticket to come here, they can't pay for their food to come here, they can't pay for theirfood here. and she wasjust for theirfood here. and she was just saying that someday they may have to admit her here as a malnutrition patient herself, because he doesn't know where she is going to get the next mealfrom. yalda hakin reporting there on a story that has gripped all of our attention. we'll have more on afghanistan a little later on in newsdsay. we'll be hearing from a representative of the international committee of the red cross. so do stay tuned for that. in other headlines, investigations are continuing into a bus crash that killed 46 people in western bulgaria. it's thought only seven people managed to escape alive from the vehicle. the passengers, including children, were travelling through bulgaria on their way back to north macedonia after a weekend trip to istanbul when the bus crashed. 0ur europe correspondent bethany bell has this report. a catastrophic crash. the bus rammed a barrier on a motorway south—west of sofia. it tore away a 50—metre section and then burst into flames. on board were tourists, mostly from north macedonia. they were returning to skopje from a trip to istanbul in turkey. the victims have not yet been officially named. a cause has yet to be determined, but witnesses reported hearing a blast. translation: the question is, what caused this blast? - if it was an explosion inside the bus or a blast caused by the bus hitting the guard rails. this brings us back to the main leads in the probe. if it was a technical fault of the vehicle or a human error that caused the crash. seven people escaped from the wreckage. the survivors were brought here, to this emergency hospital in sofia. they have been treated for burns and other injuries. it seems they only managed to escape by breaking through the windows of the bus. for relatives and friends, this is an agonising time. this man said he hadn't heard from his nephew. translation: i saw information about the crash at 6:00am - morning. i saw it on the internet, and on facebook, to be more precise. as my nephew was in turkey, i started searching for more information on the internet. i called the company's phone number for three or four hours, and we do not have any information from them. nor are they answering the phone. locals say accidents are common on this stretch of motorway. as the authorities continue their investigations, the families mourn their dead. bethany bell, bbc news, sofia. families in america will mark thanksgiving on thursday, which means travel and multiple generations gathering under one roof. so what are the risks we should be aware of as covid cases rise in the us? antony fauci, the chief medical advisor to presidentjoe biden, has warned of a surge of infections if people don't take proper precautions. we have the thanksgiving holiday, which is several weeks before — a few weeks before the christmas holiday. during that period of time, i believe we should try and get people who are vaccinated indoors so that they can enjoy themselves with their thanksgiving meal. if someone is not vaccinated in that group, like a relative who wants to join, i believe we should ask the individual to get tested before they come into the home with vaccinated people, if they are unvaccinated. that's one of the things we can do. that's why i say other mitigation issues besides testing. myself and my family, i'll be vaccinated, my family is vaccinated, we will have dinner with friends who are vaccinated. that's the best way to go. anthony fauci there. germany and france have become the latest countries to advise their citizens to leave ethiopia after an escalation in the country's civil war. ethiopia's prime minister says he's heading to the frontline to defend his country against tigray rebels. that surprise move comes amid reports of rebel forces advancing towards the capital, addis ababa, although the claims are hard to verify because of an apparent communications blackout. the rebels say their latest gain is the town of shewa robit, which is on the main road linking the capital to the north. the bbc�*s emmanuel igunza has more from nairobi. it's a startling moment. just two years ago, prime minister abiy ahmed won the nobel peace prize, describing war as "the epitome of hell". today, he's threatening to march in person to the battlefront to join his troops in the year—long war against the tigray people's liberation fighters. the tplf, which hasjoined forces with another rebel group, have dismissed the statement and claim to have captured key towns and cities as they advance south towards the capital, addis ababa. the government denies this. supporters of the prime minister have cheered him on, calling him "brave" — but critics say it's just a publicity stunt by mr abiy, who once served in the military. this has been a devastating war. there have been casualties, thousands killed and millions displaced by the conflict. ethiopia declared a state of emergency at the beginning of november. the un says nearly half a million people are living under famine—like conditions. even aid workers have been targeted — nearly 30 have been killed since fighting broke out. rights groups have accused both sides of atrocities that amount to war crimes. the un has reiterated calls for the release of humanitarian workers and more than 70 drivers detained by authorities earlier this month. no reason was given for their arrest. in ethiopia, it's a fluctuating picture. the latest numbers i've just received are five un staff and two dependants are in custody. six staff, as we mentioned, were released yesterday, and one was released today. however, one un staff member and a dependent were detained today. the african union is leading efforts to bring a negotiated end to the fighting, but neither side has committed to talks. earlier this month, the us secretary of state antony blinken warned that out—and—out conflict would be disastrous for the ethiopian people and others in the region. at the root of the war is a disagreement between prime minister abiy and the tplf which, for almost three decades, dominated the whole country. the simmering dispute then erupted into war 12 months ago when tigrayan forces were accused of attacking army bases to steal weapons, and the federal government responded. pm abiy ahmed came into power, bringing with him sweeping reforms and promising to heal old wounds. today, the country's torn apart by bitter ethnic ensigns that leads many to question how things could have gone so wrong for a country that held so much hope. emmanuel igunza, bbc news. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: avoiding disaster. the nasa mission trying to stop the earth being hit by dangerous asteroids. president kennedy was shot down and died almost immediately. the murder ofjohn kennedy is a disaster for the whole free world. he caught the imagination of the world — the first of a new generation of leaders. margaret thatcher is resigning as leader of the conservative party and prime minister. before leaving number ten to see the queen, she told her cabinet, "it's a funny old world." angela merkel is germany's first woman chancellor, easily securing the majority she needed. attempts to fly a hot air balloon had to be abandoned after a few minutes, but nobody seemed to mind very much. as one local comic put it, "it's not hot air we need, it's hard cash." cuba has declared nine days of mourning following the death of fidel castro at the age of 90. castro developed close ties with the soviet union in the 19605 — it was an alliance that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war with the cuban missile crisis. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. 0ur headlines: after more than 100 days of taliban rule in afghanistan the country is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster. national days of mourning have been declared in three countries, after the deaths of 46 tourists when a bus caught fire in bulgaria. let's get more on our top story now — and focus on afghanistan, which has been marking 100 days since taliban rule. the period has been chaotic, to say the least — with the un warning of a humanitarian catastrophe. anita dullard is from the international committee of the red cross — and gave me her analysis of the situation. 0ur director of operations, dominic stilthart, has been there over the past week to support and meet with our team in the country, and we've been there for over 50 years. and what we're seeing is a really serious food crisis that's come about even before the worst of winter hits, where we can see it escalate. and region—by—region, we're seeing that children can be severely malnourished up to 2—3 times the regular rate, pushing it into the emergency category. so in kandahar alone, we see that global acute malnutrition has increased by 31% since this time last year. and concretely, what that means is that our paediatric intensive care unit has seen admissions more than double from mid—august to september, and children are arriving with malnutrition, dehydration, and pneumonia. at exactly the same moment, the hospital system is on the brink of collapse and healthcare workers haven't been paid salaries for months. they tell us that, in fact, they can't afford the transport to get to work. so, even though they are so committed to get to the hospital to continue to provide the care, they haven't been paid and are sometimes walking two hours in each direction just to get there. anita, this matches the reporting we've seen from my colleague, yalda hakim, as well. certainly a devastating state of affairs in afghanistan. but now we're hearing from the un that that $600 million target has been reached — will that help? look, i think that humanitarian organisations like ours are really stepping into that gap. and this week, in fact, we've similarly launched support for hospitals reaching 18 regional and provincial hospitals, and more than 5,000 staff. and crucially, that means that we've prevented the system from completely collapsing and, in these hospitals alone, more than half a million consultations will be able to continue every single month. and these are in places like the maternity hospital in kabul, where we've been seeing up to three babies per incubator — and staff there, because they haven't gotten the running costs to heat the place, are using their office heaters because the incubators don't work and the babies need to stay warm. so, the situation is teetering on desperate, and this support is crucial. anita, what do you urgently need right now, organisations like yours, from the international community that have to be, to some extent, hesitant to engage the taliban when it comes to raising funds — what's your message to them? well really, we do see globally that people really care about this situation. but what we need to step into is the continued long—term support for afghanistan. so we've been there already for 30 years. this situation is the consequences of that decades—long conflict and will be ongoing for a time to come. so, we need the international community to stick with afg ha ns. and the economic collapse that we see at the minute, the freefall that's resulting in cash shortages, is really cutting off everyday afghans from the basics they need to survive. so, we need to safeguard the international community's ability to support humanitarian organisations for us to deliver our mandate of assistance and protection. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. officials in wisconsin have charged the man who drove into a christmas parade with five counts of intentional homicide. prosecutors have revealed that a sixth victim — a child — has died from injuries sustained in the incident. the court heard that the defendant, darrell brooks, had a history of previous offences, many of them violent, dating back two decades. a jury in the us state of georgia has been deliberating for six hours in the case of three white men charged with the murder of a black man last year. the defendants are accused of shooting ahmaud arbery while he was outjogging in the city of brunswick. they have pleaded not guilty. the jury will resume their deliberations on wednesday. in india, the arrest of a prominent human rights activist from kashmir under an anti—terrorism law has prompted outrage. khurram parvez runs an organisation that has published many scathing reports on human rights violations by security forces in indian administered kashmir. the indian authorities accuse him of terror funding and conspiracy. mr parvez�* supporters say his arrest is an attempt to silence activists. the man convicted of murdering a british the man convicted of murdering a british exchange the man convicted of murdering a british exchange student the man convicted of murdering a british exchange student has been released from jail early and says he wants to be forgotten. he was jailed in 2007 for the sexual assault and murder. it was dude to be freed injanuary. —— he was due to be free injanuary. it's the stuff of hollywood blockbusters — a mission into space, to try to stop an asteroid hitting the earth. but that's what nasa is actually testing this week, with the launch of its dart mission. the agency is firing a spacecraft at a huge lump of rock in space, to see if it can be tipped in another direction. 0ur science correspondent, rebecca morelle, has more. until now, it's been the stuff of hollywood blockbusters like armageddon. an asteroid heading for earth and a mission to stop it. but science fiction is becoming science fact. for the first time, nasa is sending up a spacecraft to knock an asteroid off course. this one is not a danger to the earth, but the dart mission as a trial of technology for the future. normally when we are talking about a mission to go to space, we are going to explore some new world, but in this case we are literally going to crash a spaceship into an asteroid and change the direction and speed at which it moves through space, and we are doing that to basically test the technique to save the planet if there was ever a killer asteroid coming towards earth. nasa is targeting a small asteroid called dimorphos, which is orbiting around a larger space rock. the spacecraft travelling at around 13,000 miles an hour will fly into the small asteroid leaving an impact crater up to 20 metres wide. but this should also give the rock a kick, which will speed up its orbit, and this can be monitored from the earth to see if it has worked. 0nboard is also a mini satellite that will film the crash. even a small nudge can make a big difference to an asteroid's path, and that could be vital. a 160—metre—wide rock like dimorphos could devastate populous areas, but smaller ones are a problem too. anything bigger than the 20 metre asteroid that broke up over russia in 2013 and injured hundreds of people are a concern. even the smaller objects can cause quite a lot of damage. a 25—metre asteroid, they will be really hard to spot with telescopes, so we are always pushing the technology and the science we can do and then we will try to detect where every single object is so we know what is coming in the future. the spacecraft will take nearly a year to travel the 7 million miles to its destination. no—one has ever tried anything like this before, but it could be the best chance of defending our planet if an asteroid is ever on a disastrous collision course. rebecca morrelle, bbc news. well, someone who's watching this closely is university of arizona's scientist daniella dellagiustina. so, this is humanity's first attempt to change or redirect the path of another object in the solar system. and it's very important — we have a lot of theories about how we might deflect an asteroid from crossing paths with our own planet, but so far these are just ideas. so the dart mission will provide the first actual testing of one of these theories — it's a technique called the kinetic impactor technique, and it involves sending a spacecraft at really high speeds into another object in order to alter its path. daniella, what size of asteroid could do really serious damage to the earth? it's a great question, and it depends on what you mean by "serious damage". so objects that are 50—100 metres across, if they hit a populated area, they could cause a lot of devastation. and those are a lot more common than, for example, 10km across asteroids, which are, you know — the asteroid that likely caused the extinction event of the dinosaurs was about that size. so again, it depends what you mean by "serious damage" — there's a range of possibilities depending on the size of the object. but objects in the 100—metre or so range are a lot more common than the larger objects that have caused extinction events in earth's past. and just briefly, daniella — although i wish we could talk about this all day — how long will it take until the dart crashes into the asteroid? it will happen pretty soon here, in about ten months. so, this is a relatively quick mission compared to some of the other spacecraft we've sent to explore asteroids. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. and test of luck to the data team for that very important mission. —— best of luck hello there. later this week, not only is there potential for some more disruptive weather heading our way, but something much colder, as well. wednesday starts off on a chilly note with a bit of frost in places, but some mist and dense fog patches possible across parts of england and wales — the winds have been lightest through the night. a bit more of a breeze through scotland and northern ireland to get under way, and some wet weather for the morning rush hour — this weather front here, a cold front, will bring the first run of colder air further and further southwards as we go through the next 2a hours. in the southern half of the country, a bit of a chill, temperatures not rising much — we still have light winds and a relatively quiet day, lots of mist and fog around. the morning rain, though, across scotland and northern ireland is replaced by sunshine and scattered showers, some heavy with hail, turning wintry in the far north of scotland, particularly on the hills. but turning wetter later on, northwest england, north and west wales as that cold front slowly makes its way southwards and eastwards. a little bit of patchy rain and drizzle to the south and east, we'll see some wetter conditions here through wednesday night. at the same time, very windy through wednesday night into thursday, and the far north of scotland seeing gusts of wind 50—60 mph — and that'll bring colder air, a very cold thursday morning commute, but a bright, crisp one for many — really good visibility, sunshine for the most part. some showers around the western and eastern coasts, but most of the showers will be in the north of scotland, where snow could even come down to sea level later, and an added wind—chill to go with what will be a cool day. and then things turn much more disturbed — through thursday into friday, particularly friday night and saturday, this area of low pressure transferring its way southwards. cold air wrapped around it, which means a greater chance of things turning to snow for some, but it's the winds which could be the key feature. even on friday, the winds really starting to pick up — outbreaks of rain initially pushing southwards and eastwards, but the showers that follow in its wake will turn increasingly wintry — over the hills for many, but even to lower levels in the northern half of scotland, and it will be a cold day. but through friday night into saturday, as our low pressure transfers its way southwards, we could see gales, if not severe gales develop along that weather system, working its way south and, as i said, there could be a bit of snow mixed in, too. and that will take us into saturday, as well. now those strong winds could be a problem in some parts, we could see damaging gusts of wind, some travel disruption around to take us into the weekend. even if you don't see those damaging winds — widespread gales and, as i said, that risk of rain and snow, too. see you soon. $:/startfeed.