in the canary island of la palma, where a volcano continues to erupt. we ll bring you the latest from the island. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it s newsday. it s six in the morning in singapore and six in the evening in new york, where the united nations general assembly is taking place. at a virtual summit on the sidelines of the unga, president biden asked world leaders to pledge to vaccinate 70% of the world s population against covid 19, by september next year. he said america would buy an additional 500 million doses of the pfizer vaccine to donate to poorer countries. research underlines a stark contrast richer countries have vaccinated much of their populations while poorer ones are lagging far behind. our health editor, hugh pym, has more details. wealthier nations are pushing on with boosterjabs, but it s a different story in low income countries in africa and around the world, where vaccination rates are much lower. that divergence has been
of a new covid 19 variant which may have properties that help the virus to evade the body s immune response. only 59 cases have been identified so far in botswana, hong kong, and the majority in south africa. it has not yet been declared a variant of concern by the world health organization. but virologists in britain are describing it as a deeply concerning variant, and the uk has just announced new travel restrictions in a bid to halt any potential spread. here s the british health secretary, sajid javid. earlier today, the south african government held a press conference, and they talked about a new variant that they have found called b11529. i ve been updated on this variant by the uk health security agency, and they have now designated it as a variant under investigation. the early indications we have of this variant is that it may be more transmissible than the delta variant, and the vaccines that we currently have may be less effective against it. now to be clear
live from our studio in singapore it s newsday. it s 7am in singapore, 11 pm in london and 2am in baghdad where the iraqi prime minister, mustafa al kadhimi, has appealed for calm, after surviving a drone attack on his home in the high security green zone of the city. the us president, joe biden, has instructed his national security team to help investigate the attack. it s not yet known who carried out the attack, which came after violent clashes in baghdad between the security forces and supporters of pro iranian political groups. our middle east correspondent, anna foster, has this report. a strike at the heart of the iraqi government. two drones were shot down, but a third made contact, exploding at the prime minister s official residence. mr al kadhimi escaped unharmed, but six of his personal bodyguards were injured. shortly after the attack, he appeared on national television to reassure the nation that he d survived. translation: my house was the target of a cowardly
should also lead to the next government. should also lead to the next government. welcome to the programme- government. welcome to the programme. also government. welcome to the programme. also a government. welcome to the | programme. also a newsday, government. welcome to the - programme. also a newsday, how a that has just been launched will help map climate change. this is bbc news. it is 7am in singapore and 7pm in new york where a court has found that the american singer r kelly guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering in connection with the abuse of underage girls, boys women. over the course of a five week trial the prosecution laid out in the red detail how our kelly ran a criminal enterprise that have accrue to children and women for sex. he now faces a minimum of 15 years in prison. the s correspondent takes a look back at the trial. # i believe i can fly.# to the world, he was the king of r&b and one of the bestselling music artists of all time. to his vi