welcome to newsday. i'm kasia madera in london. the headlines: the two contenders to be british prime minister face each other in a head—to—head debate, clashing over brexit and trump. protestors in hong kong threaten more mass rallies, saying a new concession on the extradition bill doesn't go far enough. i'm rico hizon in singapore. also in the programme: no let—up in the diplomatic row between the us and uk, as donald trump calls the british ambassador to washington a very stupid guy. and meet the robot who could be bringing you the news in the not too distant future! welcome to the bbc stop i'm erica. —— welcome to the bbc. i'm erica.

and meet this robot, who could be bringing you the news in the not—too—distant hello and a very warm welcome to the programme. it's 7am in singapore and midnight in london, where the two men vying to be britain's next prime minister, boris johnson and jeremy hunt, have taken part in a live televised debate. the leadership hopefuls clashed over brexit, economic policies, donald trump, and the qualities needed to lead the country. mrjohnson said it was crucial that britain leaves the eu on october 31st with or without a deal. mr hunt accused him of peddling optimism. the 160,000 conservative party members have already begun voting. here's that clash about brexit.

out in front in the race, and first in the door tonight. then next, the man in second vying to take charge. at a time when conflict and controversy follows politicians everywhere. first, with the familiar introductions, the brexiteer in chief. we can either continue with the same old failed can kicking approach, destroying trust in politics, sapping business confidence, or else we can change and get back on our mojo... mr hunt suggested a wider appeal. in poll after poll, i'm the public's preferred choice for prime minister.

i appeal not just of those who already vote conservative but those we need to win, and to those watching at home i will be our prime minister whoever you vote for. no surprise, the hardest question first. i voted conservative much of my life, but now i support the brexit party and i would like to see nigel farage in number 10. can you promise me we will definitely leave the eu on october sist? i think it's absolutely vital we come out on october 31, otherwise we will continue to haemorrhage trust, notjust in the conservative party and the labour party, but politics generally. if you don't get us out of the eu on the 31st of october, will you resign? we are going to come out on october the 31st, and anybody who goes into the negotiations posing yet again to kick the can down the road will i think run the risk of forfeiting trust with the electorate. i think it's in no, and we have someone who says it is do or die for the country... i'm sorry, i think what we have

with my opponent is somebody... i asked if you'd resign, iasked if you'd resign, boris, and you didn't answer the question. will you resign if you don't deliver it, yes or no? my opponent is clearly not committed to coming out of the eu on october the 31st. i asked if you would resign if you don't do it. they faced questions on the risk they say they would take leaving without a deal, butjoined battle over who's in the real world. being prime minister is about telling people what they need to hear, not just what they want to hear. and the difference between me and you is you are peddling optimism, and i'm saying we can i think the country needs a bit of optimism! i think only defeatist, someone who was on the other side of the argument for so long and didn't wish to come out with take that line. raise your hand if you feel confident telling the british people we will have left the eu by the 31st of october. that's the spirit, jeremy! there we are! i'm the one to do it! i'll make it happen!

you could've fooled me. the shouting tonight is over, the decision not yet done. laura kuennsberg reporting. more on that story a little later in the programme. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. the diplomatic row between britain and the united states over leaked emails from the uk ambassador to washington has intensified. in new tweets, president trump branded the ambassador, sir kim darrak, as a very stupid guy. but britain's foreign secretary jeremy hunt tweeted in response that mr trump's latest outburst was disrespectful and wrong. also making news today: president trump says he will look at the how the labour secretary alexander acosta handled the case of the financierjeffrey epstein while he was a prosecutor in florida. mr epstein was offered a plea

deal by acosta in 2008, after pleading guilty to prostitution charges. on monday in a new york court, epstein pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges. ross perot, the texas billionaire who shook up american politics in the 1990s, has died at the age of 89. he was diagnosed with leukaemia earlier this year. ross perot received nearly a fifth of the popular vote when he first ran for president in 1992, the election in which bill clinton defeated george bush senior. china has urged the united states to revoke a planned arms sale to taiwan, describing it as a serious violation of international law. the chinese foreign ministry said the $2.2 billion weapons deal, including tanks and missiles, was a crude interference in china's internal affairs.

british politicians have voted to legalise same sex marriage and liberalise abortion in northern ireland, unless the province's devolved government in stormont is restored by mid—october. unlike the rest of the uk, same—sex marriage is not permitted in northern ireland, and abortion is only allowed in very limited circumstances. and queen elizabeth has brushed off suggestions that at 93 she may need assistance in carrying out one of her duties. a polite inquiry was met with the response, "n0, no, i'm still perfectly capable of planting a tree". she made the remarks while on a visit to the national institute of agricultural botany here in england. let's return to the race to become the next uk prime minister. the two candidates have taken part in a televised debate. broadcasterjohn kampfner joins us.

he watched the whole debate stop we a lwa ys he watched the whole debate stop we always ask after these things weather there was a winner and a loser. was there in this case? there was potentially a notional winner, jeremy hunt i think landed more punches but in many ways, it was exciting and it was fun in some places, if that's your idea of fun but it's going through the motions. viewers may not know that the weirdness of the electoral system... imean, weirdness of the electoral system... i mean, it's a tiny fraction, 0.25% of the british electorate is voting in this, these are signed up conservative party members, between 100000 and 160,000 predominantly elderly members who are select their leader. and many of them have already voted. it was one of boris johnson's tactics to delay the two

debates, one on itv, the independent broadcaster tonight, and bbc coming up, but to delay it until after most of the conservative voters have voted because he's not a details man. he's very much a mini me of donald trump and he goes on emotions, bluster and this swagger and optimism. he's not shirked the media. of course, he disappeared a little bit and then he did full throttle and he was everywhere. he did a lot of hustings because he was required to but he hasn't done a lot of media but in a way, it's academic because he would have won anyway. there's so much speculation about what will happen next in britain when the next prime minister takes office in two weeks. but the one question that absolutely does not apply is will borisjohnson win? it's an absolute slamdunk he's going to win. the question then is what will he do next? is he going to get

this deal, which is really apolitical version of getting a rabbit out of hat, because the eu aren't going to negotiate on anything substantive, so they say. will he dress up one or two cosmetic changes as a great new deal and will parliamentarians allow him to do so? if he doesn't get a deal, will the uk crashed out, as he says it will, come what may, on the 31st of october? will there be an election, will there be a second referendum? so many questions in play. so many questions unanswered even after an hour's worth of televised debate. john kampfner, lovely to get your analysis. lovely to be here. leaders of the protest movement in hong kong have called new rallies against the controversial extradition law. that's despite a further concession by hong kong's leader carrie lam. she said the legislation was now dead, notjust suspended, although she stopped short of announcing a complete withdrawal. that's been criticised by the last british governor of hong kong, chris patten,

who told the bbc he doesn't think ms lam has gone far enough. here's james ra nsley. if carrie lam had hoped her latest extradition bill concession would shift the mood on the streets of hong kong, the public are leaving her in little doubt. translation: hong kong, the public are leaving her in little doubt. translatiosz the government doesn't withdraw the extradition bill, basically i think the marches will just extradition bill, basically i think the marches willjust continue. translation: if you look at what the public has been asking for, there area public has been asking for, there are a lot of demands the government has not given a proper answer to. the government wants to avoid scenes like these, when hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest over the bill in what were largely peaceful demonstrations. under pressure, carrie lam has made what appears to bea carrie lam has made what appears to be a new concession, the bill that would have allowed suspects to be extradited to china now isn'tjust

suspended. there are still lingering doubts about the government's sincerity, or worries about whether the government will restart the process in a legislative council, so i reiterate here that there is no such plan. the bill is dead. she stopped short, however, of using the word withdrawn as protesters had demanded, and pro—democracy lawmakers want carrie lam gone. we urge her to step down, to pay her political price and penalty. she should step down instead of asking, urging hong kong people to give her a second chance. while the chinese government officially backs carrie lam, itappears government officially backs carrie lam, it appears some mainland chinese are alarmed by the images they've been seeing. what they've only seen our hand—picked images and videos of violence outside the legislative council and attacks on the police, and what they think is hooliganism in hong kong. hong

kong's former governor is backing calls for carrie lam to set up an independent enquiry into police brutality into the process. she's talked about having a rather narrower enquiry. i think she should go the whole hog and i think in those circumstances it would be sensible for people to try to look foran sensible for people to try to look for an accommodation and try to bring some calm to hong kong, which badly needs it. for now, the threat of further demonstrations appears to be very much present. james ransley, bbc news. abe denmark is director of the asia program for at the wilson centre think tank. he told me why he thinks beijing is playing a significant role in how the proposed law is being handled. we haven't seen the specific orders, but it's pretty clear that there's close communication going on between the hong kong executive branch and beijing. the declaration that the extradition bill is dead is

certainly something we've been hearing for a while, but it actually requires a pretty significant legal process to actually kill a bill and that's a process that so far the chief executive has declined to go for, and that's what a lot of the protesters in hong kong are focusing on right now. i'm sure hong kong and beijing don't want to set a precedent, but of course you have the protesters already saying they will continue these mass protests, but in your view, can they succeed in keeping this momentum going now that the bill is dead? this is really turning into something of a marathon between the protesters and their ability to sustain a presence and to sustain support amongst the hong kong people, and the government, which is going to try to wait them out and see if they can just let this die out over time and eventually get back to business as usual. but they have elections

coming up later this year, and then next year, which i suspect the chief executive in hong kong is going to be focusing on and wanting to come out in their favour so i suspect the objective now is to get things quiet, calm things down and get themselves in as good a position for those upcoming elections. carrie lam has been a failure, so do you think she still has a future as chief executive? could beijing replace her? there is certainly... i expect there's disappointment with how she's handled this so far. but you mention precedent before, and i also expect folks in the hong kong chief executive office and especially in beijing would not want to set a precedent of popular protests leading to the resignation of the chief executive and a change in government. i suspect that while they may not be happy with how things are going with the current

chief executive, i also don't expect their going to want to have these protests translate directly into a change in leadership. that's a precedent they would very much want to avoid. i think herjob is safe at least for the foreseeable future, but what comes next, how the process evolve, i think is anyone's yes. abe denmark there from the wilson centre think tank speaking to rico. also on the programme: the ai robots that might one day bring you the daily news. central london has been rocked by a series of terrorist attacks. police say there have been many casualties, and there is growing speculation that al-qaeda was responsible. germany will be the hosts of the 2006 football world cup, and they pipped the favourites, south africa, by a single vote.

in south africa, the possibility of losing hadn't even been contemplated, and celebration parties were cancelled. the man entered the palace through a downstairs window and made his way to the queen's private bedroom. then he asked her for a cigarette, and on the pretext of arranging for some to be brought, she summoned a footman on duty, who took the man away. one child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. education is the only solution. applause this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: the two contenders to be the uk's next prime minister clashed

in a face—to—face televisied leadership debate. brexit and the diplomatic row with president trump drew the most heat. protest leaders in hong kong threaten new mass rallies, saying a new concession on the controversial extradition bill doesn't go far enough. the stalemate in hong kong over the controversial extradition bill is dominating the front pages of today's newspapers. the south china morning post says the embattled chief executive made her strongest peace offering yet to protesters. but it also points out that carrie lam refused to use the word ‘withdraw‘ in her offer. the straits times reports that as the impasse continues, so too do the losses

at the hong kong stock exchange. the paper says the hang seng index slid down further point 76% on tuesday. -- 76 —— 76 points. and the japan times analyses the us state department's decision to approve a possible sale to taiwan of weapons worth around 2.2 billion us dollars. the paper says the move is mostly symbolic, since taiwan would still be a massive underdog in any war with china. now, kasia, what stories are sparking discussions online? rico, it's the findings from survey carried out on behalf of the british government about the earnings of different ethnic groups in the uk. they've found that on average, workers of chinese and indian heritage make more money, than their white british counterparts. it's believed to because they often work in professional roles. all other ethnic groups had lower wages than white british workers.

a lot of attention on that survey, rico. thank you so much, kasia. one of the most influential figures in japan's entertainment industry, johnny kitagawa, has died at the age of 87. for more than half a century, his agency made numerous boybands which became popular notjust injapan but across asia. for more, let's bring in our reporter mariko oi. he's not very famous internationally, but what legacy did he leave in japan? rico, as you say, he leave in japan? rico, as you say, he himself isn't exactly a household name outside japan, but he himself isn't exactly a household name outsidejapan, but it's fair to say, many of our viewers especially in this part of the world, would recognise many of the boy bands he created over half a century. they didn't get to market them as well in the uk or the us where k—pop is

huge, but at least in asia, one of his very popular boy bands, too, came somewhat the pop ambassador to china when tensions were very high -- smap. china when tensions were very high —— smap. johnny kitagawa was recognised himself three times by the guiness world records, responsible for 232 number one singles. fantastic! and this boy band smap is a very popular band internationally and even made news when the pop band split up. but johnny kitagawa was also a controversial figure. that's right and. he became almost too powerful. you talk about when smap split up and there were rumours some of the members wanted to leave the agency and they had to hold this televised press c0 nfe re nce , and they had to hold this televised press conference, which was broadcast prost japan and that raised some eyebrows because they all wore black dark suits, looking really serious and sombre, apologised to their fans for making

them worry but the apology was also addressed 21 himself. many fans were upset and also the general public. many saw the still similarities between the celebrities and japanese salarymen who couldn't really stand up salarymen who couldn't really stand up against their bosses. despite the criticism we saw on social media, the japanese media shied away from criticising johnny kitagawa and his agency because they thought if they upset them they would lose other boy band members, who are critical parts of their programmes stop thejohnny kitagawa's legacy will live on. thanks for sharing your thoughts on his story, my colleague, mariko oi. here's a question for you: could robots solve staff shortages? well, injapan, where the population is declining sharply, the government is hoping they may provide the answer. but some developers believe that instead of replacing us, robots could even get more people into work. the bbc‘s stephanie

hegarty explains. welcome to the bbc‘s. welcome to the bbc's. i'm erica ai. i feel like welcome to the bbc's. i'm erica ai. ifeel like i'm in welcome to the bbc's. i'm erica ai. i feel like i'm in a welcome to the bbc's. i'm erica ai. ifeel like i'm in a chat show here. i'm not sure who the presenter is. meet erica, the first robot news reader in the world. hi, i'm erica. nice to meet you. where are you from? i am from ireland. i love island very much. this is erica's engineer —— love ireland. today's news... buckingham palace is expected to announce... she has three modes. she can be operated

remotely, preprogrammed with a script or she can work in al mode, where in theory she can carry out a spontaneous conversation. tofu. tofu! i like tofu. i can eat it. i'm not sure you can. i can eat it. ok, if you insist. ai mode still needs some are you confident that she'll be able to have a normal conversation one day? cash, amazing technology but what's happening to this world? this cannot happen! we cannot be replaced! the

robots are coming, rico. this might be my last time for me to say... please, no! you have been watching newsday. i'm kasia madera in london. i'm nota i'm not a robot! i'm rico hizon in singapore. stay with us. we'll find out why india's capital delhi has plans to make public transport free for all women. we look forward to that. and if you haven't seen snowball, the dancing cockatoo, on social media yet, fear not. this video is doing the rounds online of the sulphur—crested cockatoo showing off some dance moves to girlsjust wanna have fun by cindi lauper. actually this isn't snowball‘s first fling with fame. he went viral ten years ago dancing to songs by the backstreet boys and michaeljackson. then, scientists dismissed his moves. however, they now say he's responding creatively to music, thus proving that dancing isn't just limited to humans. in case you were wondering, snowball has a repertoire of 1a different dance moves.

in case you're wondering, he's got a repertoire... we can do that too, kasia! i knew you were going to do that! bye—bye... kasia! i knew you were going to do that! bye—bye. .. he's kasia! i knew you were going to do that! bye—bye... he's not a robot! hello. the forecast wrings us pretty mixed there across the uk in the next few days. sunny spells for pretty much all areas and if anything some increasing warmth, but look out for some hefty old showers as well, especially across the northern half of the uk. low pressure is driving the weather here, swinging in some fronts as well, which means more organised va ns well, which means more organised vans of rain. for wimbledon, though, with high pressure sitting to the south, we are clinging on to a fine picture on wednesday, perhaps just the raised risk of a shower later on in the afternoon but you can see some of those showers decide to touch a bit further south at times

through the day. but southern england and south wales, very likely to escape with a dry picture but heavy showers across eastern england can't be ruled out through the afternoon. scotland gets the wettest weather first then. brighter in the afternoon and thunderstorms likely in the north—east later and northern ireland seeing more persistent rain into the latter part of the day. just light winds, and that's the complication where you get heavier showers developing. nothing to dry them on, so the rainfall can really mount up. a pretty clear evening to the south and east at the showers pile into wales, rolling through northern ireland and heading into scotland. overnight close to take us into thursday, 12—14just about cove rs into thursday, 12—14just about covers it. for thursday day time, we are still under the influence of high pressure and some of those more organised bands of showers and perhaps a greater risk of seeing heavier showers across the eastern side of the uk on thursday, and particularly for eastern scotland,

signs are there could some quite intense thunderstorms. again, to the far south, things looking clearer with pleasant spells of sunshine. and then for the end of the week, things starting to calm down somewhat. a few showers possible for northern ireland, again the chance of heavier ones across eastern england and perhaps eastern scotland with the odd rumble of thunder. in the sunshine, our attempts starting to left, perhaps 23 or 24. certainly through the weekend that looks to be the case because the reason things are starting to calm down by friday, high pressure is beginning to build from the west and it will spread out across the uk to take us through the weekend. i can't promise faultless blue skies but i can promise a much quieterfew blue skies but i can promise a much quieter few days with very a few showers, perhaps the odd one or two in the east on saturday and in the west on sunday. sunshine with temperatures into the mid—20s.

‘s i'm kasia madera with bbc news.

our top story. the two contenders to be the next british prime minister clash in a head—to—head debate. brexit and the diplomatic row with the us were the hottest topics. anti—government protesters in hong kong threaten more mass rallies, saying they don't believe the controversial extradition bill is "dead." and this story is trending on bbc.com: it shows that on average, workers of chinese and indian heritage make more money than their white british counterparts.