it is 8:00am in singapore, 1:00am in london and 8:00pm in washington, where president trump made a surprise announcement that he is banning transgender people from serving in the us military in any capacity. campaigners for transgender rights have called his decision shocking and ignorant. our correspondent aleem maqbool reports from texas. there are thought to be thousands of members of the us military who identify as transgender. many have spent time in iraq or afghanistan. today, they woke up to a shock from the very president they serve. "after consultation with my generals and military experts," he tweeted, "please be advised that the united states government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the us military." riley dosh has spent the last four years as an officer in training at the military academy at west point. she came out last year, after president obama lifted the ban on transgender people serving openly. she now has to find a newjob, even though it was a lifelong dream to serve the us. ijust fell in love with this country. and even those that completely fundamentally disagree with me, ifelt this desire. i want to serve and defend you, and i want to defend your right to disagree with me. how do you feel now, when you are told you can't serve? i'm going to have to find some other way to serve. not necessarily in the military, but serve the country, either in the private sector or public sector. it's heartbreaking that they won't let me be an officer, but for now that's how the cards fell. the white house says it is doing this because of the cost of medical transition procedures for transgender servicemembers. the president's expressed concern, since this obama policy came into effect. but he's also voiced that this is a very expensive and disruptive policy, and, based on consultation he has had with his national security team, came to the conclusion that it erodes military readiness and unit cohesion, and made the decision based on that. but the cost of procedures for transgender people is estimated to be just 0.1% of the military medical spending budget. well, this is another attempt to reverse an obama policy, and it may go down well with some trump supporters. but in the us, tra nsgender people enroll in the military at a much higher rate than the population as a whole, and in one move, thousands have been left devastated. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in fort hood in texas. we will have more on that in a few minutes. now some of the day's other news: taiwanese tech giant foxconn, one of apple's suppliers, has announced it is opening a factory in america. president trump said it was a boost to the us economy. today i am pleased to announce that foxconn, a world leader in manufacturing for computers, communications, and consumer electronics, one of the truly great companies of the world, will build a state—of—the—art manufacturing facility for the production of lcd panel products in wisconsin, investing many, many billions of dollars right here in america, and creating thousands of jobs, dollars right here in america, and creating thousands ofjobs, and i mean american jobs, that's what we want. also making news today: donald trump has used twitter to attack his own attorney general, jeff sessions, for the third day in a row. he questioned why mr sessions had not sacked the fbi‘s acting director because of his wife's political ties to hillary clinton. the parents of the terminally ill british baby charlie gard have been given until midday on thursday by a judge to find a specialist intensive care doctor to look after him until he dies. charlie's parents had launched one last legal battle at the high court in london to bring their child home to die. two days of anti—government strike action have begun in venezuela. this was the street in caracas. earlier the us imposed sanctions against 13 senior officials in venezuela a head ofa senior officials in venezuela a head of a controversial election on monday to elect an assembly with powers to rewrite the constitution. the president called insolent. and this texan has a remarkable talent. this footage shows the toddler scoring one basketball shot after another in his living room at home. his father took the footage and it is all the more remarkable because he has had an incredible recovery from critical injuries after he was the sole survivor of a car crash backin the sole survivor of a car crash back in 2015. clearly a very determined little boy. more than 10,000 people in the south of france have been forced to leave homes or holiday resorts to escape rapidly spreading wildfires. many are having to spend a second night in sports halls and other public buildings, while some have taken refuge on beaches. over 6,000 firefighters and troops are now battling the fires, which have been raging for three days. our correspondent duncan kennedy is in bormes—les—mimosas in provence. the raging power of the fires was at its most terrifying during the night. this was bormes—les—mimosas, west of st tropez, where hillsides were engulfed by the burning shrubs and trees. for hours, it swept across the countryside in an unstoppable curtain of flames. thousands of people, including british tourists, were forced out of campsites and other homes. mary and alan anderson, from ramsgate, said the sight of the fires was extremely distressing. we looked over onto the hill, and all we could see was black smoke billowing from umpteen various places. and then the planes came over, picked up loads of water, and have been dousing all day to try and dampen the flames. the sheer force of the fires were caught by holiday—makers on their phones. strong mistral winds gave them an unstoppable energy. many fires burned throughout the night. even the 4,000 firefighters and soldiers sent in couldn't get control, when faced with this. the fires led to a huge evacuation of 10,000 people, many from campsites like this one. they were told to spend the night on nearby beaches, out in the open. tonight, we found dozens of people in a gymnasium. there are beds and plenty of food, but their holiday has been ruined. and for some, it is their third night in this makeshift accommodation. the morning brought no letup in the fires. some tourists were far enough away to continue their holiday, but the lushness of their scenery now replaced by a menacing inferno. in other places, all that was left was a vast, scorched landscape. an area decimated across 15 square miles. 19 aircraft, including ten water bombers, have been brought in. but the french authorities are asking other european governments for technical help. these fires have been burning for two days now, and we are seeing fires on hills all around this area. we're also seeing aircraft, helicopters laden with water, trying to put them out. but, at the moment, they don't seem to be able to bring them under control. temperatures here are in the 30s, and the wind shows no sign of letting up. a combustible, deadly mixture, that will continue to threaten this area. duncan kennedy, bbc news, in southern france. let's return to our top story now: a former us army civilian employee who served with us intelligence agencies, emily crose, explained life in the military as a transgender person. i actually joined the army with the intent in mind to transition, and injoining the army i had a suspicion i would be joining a workforce that would be open and accepting of what i needed to do with my life. i expected that the work i did would speak for itself, and i was not disappointed. i wanted to ask you about how much do you think transgender people rely on mental health services within the us military? it's a crucial part of any trans person's transition, to go through some sort of mental health. most of us do it. in the military, it's a required part of transition. you have to get a doctor to signoff on your psychological state before you can actually go through transition. so it is crucial. it's notjust critical for people going through transition actively, but also for people who have post transition needs, including veterans. the rand corporation says it is less than a 0.1% of the cost of medical bills for people of the transgender community within the us army. i wonder if you could talk us through what treatment may be you would need, or require within the us army? perhaps hormone therapy, or anything like that that president trump might be referring to? sure, well, standard treatment is usually some sort of psychological assistance, medical assistance. sometimes it can go into medical transition needs such as hormone replacement therapy. certain people do make the decision to transition surgically, and that is for people that are born with male genitalia as well as female genitalia, and anybody who is also born intersex. so that range of treatment can range in price. generally, a male—to—female surgery will cost somewhere in the range of $30,000-$35,000. but that again can vary, depending on where you do it, and what your post—operative care is like. generally the cost is not very high, especially for the military, that spent billions of dollars every year on military hardware and equipment. sarah huckabee earlier said the reasons for this were to do with unit cohesion. what is your reaction to that? i think that it's a little bit more of a concern to unit cohesion when a president can tweet essentially a policy that goes against what the actual policy is of the military. it takes a long time to create a policy like this, and so to simply, frivolously tweet out there a specific idea of some kind, that goes against that, can have very adverse effects to the people that are currently serving. so my reaction would be that the tweet actually do more damage than the original policy did. during his election campaign, president trump said about the lgbt community, i have your backs. do you think he has your back? it certainly doesn't seem that way right now. you are watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: it is 64 years since the armistice ended the korean war, and divided the peninsula. we examine why, since then, nuclear weapons have such significance for the north. also on the programme: could britain's plans to move towards electric vehicles signal the end of the road for petrol and diesel cars? cheering the us space agency, nasa, has ordered an investigation after confirmation today that astronauts were cleared to fly while drunk. the last foot patrol in south armagh. once an everyday part of the soldiers' lot, drudgery and danger, now no more after almost four decades. if one is on one's own, in a private house, not doing any harm to anyone, i don't really see why people should wander in and say, you're doing something wrong. six rare white lion cubs are on the prowl at worcestershire park and, already, they have been met with a roar of approval from visitors. they're lovely, yeah. really sweet. yeah, they were cute. this is newsday on the bbc. iam sharanjit i am sharanjit leyl in singapore. and i'm babita sharma in london. president trump has made a surprise announcement that he's reintroducing a ban on transgender people serving in the us military. wildfires tear through the countryside in southern france. thousands are forced to leave their homes to escape the flames. let's look at some of the front pages from around the world. we begin with the south china morning post, which reports that ageing has been testing underwater drones in the south china sea. —— beijing. the paper says they will be able to send back information on the location of foreign submarines. the philippines star says the government of president duterte is not willing to lose a single inch of territory in the south china seated ageing. —— south china sea to beijing. they have a joint exploration deal with china in an area where beijing has extensive territorial claims. the china daily has an aerial picture of a panda power station. you hurt me crackly. engineers are using different kinds of solar cells to make an image of two debut pandas. —— heard me correctly. something pretty to look at and a source of clea n pretty to look at and a source of clean energy. that brings you up—to—date with the papers. it is 64 years ago today that north korea and the united nations command protecting south korea signed an armistice agreement to end hostilities of the korean war. but a full peace deal was never reached. in north korea, the day is known as victory day and celebrations are taking place. this comes as pyongyang is reportedly planning another missile test, which, in the future, could carry nuclear warheads. north korea claims that it needs nuclear weapons for self—defence but as the bbc‘s karen allen explains, it is not just about security. the era of strategic patience with the north korean regime has failed. it was a bitter civil war in the 1950s that led to a divided korean peninsula. since then, the north has been trying to develop a nuclear weapon. initially with help from the russians. since then we have seen five nuclear tests, the most recent carried out last year. and under kim jong—un we have also seen the testing of the first icbm. it may not have a nuclear warhead yet. that could still be to come. even so, apart from military might and big headlines, what does having a nuclear weapon give to north korea? most people in the west look at nuclear weapons as a security guarantee and a deterrent against any foreign attack or invasion. in north korea it is much more. they are symbolic of advanced technology. they are symbolic of an instrument that makes the state more powerful and capable. leadership, at least this is a narrative, is that nuclear weapons and their delivery systems are necessary condition to achieve economic austerity. —— propserity. in the north korean mindset abandoning nuclear weapons would be abandoning the hoped—for economic prosperity. the us has been trying to put pressure on north korea to freeze its nuclear programme. it has been trying to get countries like china to apply what influence it can. but nuclear potency is now such an important part of the north korean psyche that any kind of international ban is likely to be considered an assault on the country's national identity. you look at north korean media, television, music. if you go around schools and villages and everywhere you see pictures, murals, songs, concerts. it is so ingrained into the national identity that abandonment of nuclear weapons would be part of revolutionary change north korea. it would stand everything on its head. it is not something simple that can be resolved with security guarantees and economic aid. it is much more than that. a new report has highlighted the problem of domestic maids from indonesia, working in hong kong, being drawn into extremist islamist cells. the research by the institute for policy analysis of conflict found that a tiny cell of some 50 extremist domestic workers has developed within the 150,000 strong indonesian community in hong kong. for more on this we can now speak to sidneyjones, director of the institute for policy analysis of conflict injakarta. that is of course the organisation that conducted the study. welcome to the programme. the report from your organisation says that even though many of these women are underpaid and exploited in theirjobs, this abuse was not a direct factor in the radicalisation. so what is leading these women down this path?|j radicalisation. so what is leading these women down this path? i think there are a number of different factors and it changes from woman to woman. in many cases they had experienced some major personal turmoil that led them to seek out a community. in some cases they desired to purify their practice of religion, thinking that this would atone for past sins. it was also the conflict in syria that really turned some of these women into searching for a way to help. this led to them, in some cases, dating jihadis online. what happens next? when they do discover these groups and they are drawn online, what has been your study so far? there are a number of different things that have happened. in some cases they look for friends to get involved, and then look for a way, in some cases, to get to syria themselves. now, with the set axe in themselves. now, with the set axe in the middle east they may be looking for other fronts to the middle east they may be looking for otherfronts tojoin. the middle east they may be looking for other fronts to join. —— the setbacks. in some cases they have been providing tickets to jihadi setbacks. in some cases they have been providing tickets tojihadi men they meet online, also to try to join. they have offered accommodation and assistance with transit through hong kong to syria. fortu nately transit through hong kong to syria. fortunately the hong kong authorities have stopped some of these people at the port. you mentioned the hong kong authorities there, but is anybody else trying to do anything to try to prevent this? is the indonesian government doing anything? i think up until now, the consulate in hong kong has seen the beginnings of the problem, but where there are extremist preachers coming into hong kong, the consulate basically says they cannot do very much because these are funded privately and they are brought in by women who find these radical preachers online. i think one of the things the government can do is actually work with the employment and recruiting agencies and try to get some training and warning to these women before they leave for hong kong. thank you forjoining us. air pollution is a problem all over the world, and in britain the government has been outlining its strategy to tackle the problem. it includes a ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2040, with the aim of encouraging drivers to switch to electric vehicles. but environmental and health campaigners have criticised the strategy, saying it doesn't go far or fast enough. david shukman reports. on the worst days, the pollution hangs like a mist over our cities. the gases and particles cause asthma and heart trouble, maybe dementia. and there's evidence that dirty air shortens lives, linked to an estimated 40,000 premature deaths in britain every year. and the biggest source of pollution is diesel engines, and we have millions of them. so the government has a vision for a future where all our cars will be electric. norway will do this by 2025, france by 2040, and that's the year the government here has set to move away from conventional engines. we have to get rid of petrol and diesel cars off our roads if we're going to make sure not only that we deal with the health problems that air pollution causes, but also that we meet our climate—change targets. and the good news is that the car industry is already moving in this direction. so is electric power the answer? volvo has declared it will go electric from 2019. other car—makers also have plans. but the boss of aston martin says the government hasn't thought through the implications. if you don't have the infrastructure, if you don't have the skills, if you don't have the wherewithal to pay for it, then as a statement or as a policy, it's absurd. year after year, britain has seen levels of nitrogen dioxide well above european standards. the government is under court order to clean up, and an environmental group that launched legal action says the environment secretary still isn't doing enough. we're very disappointed with this plan, it's unambitious, and it's not going to fix the problem quickly and urgently. people are suffering health problems because of the poor air that they're breathing in our towns and cities. that needs to be urgently tackled. all the government is doing is kicking the can down the road and not dealing with it as quickly as it could. you can't always see air pollution, but politicians can't avoid it. the government says it is responding, but it doesn't want to offend motorists. the result — a signal of real change, but not for a while. david shukman, bbc news. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. we will be having some face time with facebook. the social network giant has just reported a whopping 71% jump in quarterly profits. analysts attribute the jump to facebook‘s push into video advertising. shares in facebook are now trading near record highs. and before we go, let's head to finland where polar bears are getting a helping hand to stay cool. at this wildlife park in the north of finland, temperatures reaching are 25 degrees and a nearby ski centre came up with the idea of sending some snow to the wildlife park. it had been stored from last winter to use at the start of the ski season in october, but i think we can all agree that the bears are worthy recipients too. that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. hello. there is some downpour dodging to be done during the day ahead and in fact throughout the rest of this week. a mixed weather picture. some spells of sunshine and showers as well. some of those showers as well. some of those showers will be heavy, blown along bya showers will be heavy, blown along by a fairly blustery wind that time. low pressure is in charge. those isobars are tightly packed. we will have strong winds and quite a few showers around as well. those showers around as well. those showers initially most widespread across northern ireland and western scotland, but they will then develop more widely across the country. some of them heavy with some rumbles of thunder mixed in and some fairly blustery winds as well. after a fairly cloudy start in southern areas, things will brighten up a little bit. why the afternoon, although there will be some heavy showers around with some gusty winds, there will also be decent spells of sunshine between those downpours. 19 in london, 17 in hull by the middle parts of the afternoon. some of those showers stretching up in northern england and scotland as well. the far north of scotland, orkney and shetland, thatis of scotland, orkney and shetland, that is the place to be for dry weather. not many showers there at all. northern ireland, that mixture of sunshine and showers. a similar story in wales. 18 degrees in cardiff and in the south—west of england. as we head through thursday night into the early hours of friday morning, we still have that area of low pressure up to the north—west. some showers continuing, especially for northern ireland, scotland and northern england. fewer showers further south and some clear spells as well. overnight, temperatures of the 11- 15. as as well. overnight, temperatures of the 11— 15. as we head into friday, that area of low pressure is still with us. then we have this little feature down here to the south. this will introduce more persistent rain into southern areas late in the day. initially, some spells of sunshine and showers as well. the showers fade for a time across england and wales, only to be replaced by this lump of rain pushing in from the west. most of that wet weather should move through fairly quickly during friday night and into the early pa rt during friday night and into the early part of saturday. once that clears away, you guessed it, we are left for the weekend with a mixture of sunshine and showers. still an area of low pressure close by. temperatures around 16— 23. on sunday, wherever you are across the country, you can expect those downpours. in the far north of scotland, shetland is particularly likely to stay dry. showers do crop up likely to stay dry. showers do crop up and they can be heavy with some hailand up and they can be heavy with some hail and thunder. feeling fairly cool with a blustery wind. you are watching bbc world news. our top story: president trump has announced that he is reintroducing a ban on transgender people serving in the us military. he tweeted that transgender individuals risked burdening the military with large medical bills and disruption. campaigners for transgender rights say his decision is shocking and ignorant. more than 10,000 people in the south of france have been forced from their homes and campsites to escape rapidly spreading wildfires. over 6,000 firefighters are battling the fires, which have been raging for three days. and this story is trending on bbc.com: the uk government has outlined plans to tackle air pollution, which include a ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2040. but environmental and health campaigners have criticised the move, saying it doesn't go far enough. that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news. and the top story here in the uk: ministers have scrapped charges for people who want to bring a case to an employment tribunal, after the supreme court ruled that they were unlawful.