News. It is newsday. Thanks for joining us. Its 9am in singapore, midnight in london and 7pm in washington, where the white house says President Trump is supportive of improved background checks for people who buy guns. Mr trump has previously spoken out against gun control, but todays comments follow the High School Shooting in parkland florida last week, in which 17 people were killed. The alleged shooter, nikolas cruz, was back in court on monday for a procedural hearing. He has admitted carrying out the attack using a semiautomatic rifle that was bought legally. Meanwhile, demonstrators held a lie in protest outside the white house in support of gun control. Young survivors of the massacre will lead a march in washington this week to demand political action. 16 year old rain valladares will be one of them. She was in class when the shots rang out. Now, she wants the president s attention. I feel like if he looks me ifeel like if he looks me in the eye, he looks all of us in the eye, he sees the amount of. Just passion and change that we are calling, demanding from him, because he is going to know, he is going to see in our eyes that we are not going to back down, no matter what. We are not going to stop until change has happened. Until this country changes. The heart can barely go through this one time, and are not going to let it happen again. Im not going to let my heart go through it again, im not going to let these families, these victims, you know, indian rain. End in vain. Michael nutter is the former democratic mayor of philadelphia with a history of antagonising the powerful us gun lobby. Hes told the bbc he believes that younger people calling for gun control could be game changers. You would think that a while back we would have actually done something significant, certainly after sandy hook, but there is a different feeling from florida, i think a lot of it has to do with the voices of the young people, speaking out very strongly, very directly being heard, andi strongly, very directly being heard, and i hope that more and more adults, people who are supposed to be adults take there are leaves, show some guts and actually do even a few things, reasonable things. For more, our correspondent david willis in washington, joined rico a little earlier. The day the president lived to his support behind a high part of them built to basically tighten up the criminal background checks that people have two go, undergo here before they can buy a firearm. Basically these are checks carried out under the el but they rely on information from state and federal agencies regarding Mental Health legion issues, regarding criminal convictions and so on. Very often that information is not sent through. It is not compiled as part of the database. This measure would basically tighten that up, at least thatis basically tighten that up, at least that is the plan. It wouldnt necessarily prevent the sort of attack that someone like nikolas cruz could carry out, and indeed, President Trump has focused on the Mental Health aspect of this whole debate and the fbi letting him slip through the net, as it were, rather than looking at any form of gun control. There was a line and today, about 100 students staged this lie in infront about 100 students staged this lie in in front of the white house calling for tighter gun control laws, there was a rally in the capital wednesday and a big rally here in the capital, washington, dc, on the 24th of march. Lets take a look at some of the days other news. The court of arbitration for sport has begun proceedings against the russian 0lympic medallist, Alexander Krushelnitsky, after he failed a doping test. A sample he provided tested positive for a banned substance, which the bbc understands to be meldonium. Alexander krushelnitsky won a bronze medal alongside his wife in the mixed doubles curling event. The ioc may say the Alexander Krushelnitsky case shows that everything is actually 0k. They might say, why should we be embarrassed . Might say, why should we be embarrassed 7 firstly, might say, why should we be embarrassed . Firstly, the procedure is, you know, going ahead, he has still not been found guilty, and secondly, if he is found guilty, we are the ones who caught him so eve ryo ne are the ones who caught him so everyone should feel quite good about that as well. Mind you, winning that argument in the court of International Public opinion is a very different matter. However, this case will be followed for that reason very closely today. We are not sure when the actual hearing is going to take less, but it could be quite fast. Now, imagine, for ordinary russians and for the athletes here especially, this is pretty painful for athletes here especially, this is pretty painfulfor them. Athletes here especially, this is pretty painful for them. They thought these games could represent a thawing of the relations with the ioc. Hoping they were going to be welcomed back into the world of International Sport and even, by the end of these games, but a decision could be taken, which would allow them to march into that closing ceremony, carrying the russian flag. But this case, especially if he is found guilty, certainly cant help the chances of that happening. Also making news today the indonesian authorities have issued their highest level safety warning after the eruption of a large volcano sent an ash cloud shooting more than 7 kilometres into the air. Officials urged individuals to stay out of an exclusion zone around mount sinubung, on indonesias sumatra island. The president of the maldives has failed to extend a state of emergency after he didnt get the necessary support in parliament. The united 0pposition boycotted a special parliamentary session so president Abdulla Yameens decree did not have the 43 votes it required to be adopted. Syrian activists say dozens of civilians have been killed over the past 2a hours in government attacks on the rebel held enclave of eastern ghouta, on the outskirts of damascus. The activists say air strikes and artillery fire have killed more than 70 people as the government intensifies its assault on the district. The chinese authorities have demanded a severe punishment for a man whos accused of snapping off and stealing the thumb of a terracotta warrior statue on display in the us. The life size figures of the first emperors army, which are more than 2,000 old, which are more than 2,000 years old, are among chinas most prized treasures. Another three employees of Punjab National bank have been arrested in connection with a 1. 8 billion fraud case. Billionaire jeweller nirav modi and others have been accused of colluding with employees at the bank. The latest arrest includes two bank managers. Mr modi has not commented on the case and no charges have been filed. Now some amazing pictures from the english seaside town of blackpool. You can see the resorts famous tower in the background and in the foreground, it looks like a black wave is sweeping up the beach. But its actually a large number of starlings. The mass movement, is known as a murmur ation with flocks of birds swirling through the skies, before settling for the night. Every year, every yea r, over every year, over 2. 5 million babies around the world are not survive the on theirfirst month around the world are not survive the on their first month of life. Many deaths are entirely preventable according to a report published by unicef. It says better at first to midwives and basics such as clean water and decent nutrition could dramatically alter the lives of hundreds of thousands of newborns. Mortality rates differ hugely between countries. We have reports from india in malawi. First, why the prospects for babies born injapan are so good. This is a beautifulfour day this is a beautiful four day old baby girl. In the lottery of birth she has just hit the jackpot. Injapan, the chance of a baby dying in its first month of life is the lowest in the world. Hello. Please come in. It helps that her mum lives in a rich country with excellent healthcare. But there are two things that set japan apart. The first is this little book. Every baby injapan gets one. It will trace her development from the womb until she is six years old. Second, she gets lots of monthly checks. The first stage, until six months of pregnancy, i go its about once in four weeks. After that, i go two times in a month. And now, i am the last month of pregnancy, and i go once a week. This is a truly remarkable Success Story forjapan because just 70 years ago, in 1950, japans infant mortality rate was 50 deaths per thousand live births. Today, for the first time, with these new figures being published, japan is the first country ever recorded to go below one death per thousand live births. In india, where a fifth of all the worlds babies are born, the chances of survival are much lower than injapan. On average, 60 newborns die in this country every hour. This woman gave birth to a baby girl three weeks ago. Shes been in the specialist unit in bhopal ever since. Many babies end up here because their mothers are malnourished and dont get proper medical care during their pregnancy. The situation is worse in remote areas. Six hours north, i meet this mother with her young son. Last month, she gave birth to his sister. Translation when she was born, she would vomit every time i tried to breast feed her. One hospital turned us away. Another asked for more money. By the time we went back to get the payment, she died. It was the second baby she had lost. Access to Quality Health care is a key factor when it comes to newborn deaths here in india. For many people, its still simply out of reach. You only have to come to rural areas to see the impact thats having. Doctors say these specialist units are improving survival rates but in a country where so many babies are born, too many are still dying. This is agnes. Being born in malawi means she has a much better chance of survival. Newborn deaths have nearly halved in 16 years. Simple changes have helped, like discouraging woman from giving birth at home. Translation the difference is huge. Here, you are supported. Because at home, you could be losing blood. But here, if you are losing blood, they give you an injection and if there are any other problems, the doctor can help. Premature babies are especially at risk. Here, doctors are teaching mothers the kangaroo method, which helps keep these underweight babies warm using body heat. Child marriage and the resulting pregnancies are a particular problem and can lead to early birth. 80 of malawians live in rural areas, which means if you are going to have your baby in a clinic, youve got to walk. But the Bigger Picture is things have got better. Unicef says its because malawi has been open to new ideas. And other developing countries may want to follow that path to give newborns a better chance in life. That was lebu diseko ending that report. Youre watching newsday on the bbc. Still to come on the programme a bbc arabic crew has gained exclusive access into afrin in the north of syria, where the kurds are fighting against turkish forces. Nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home. The withdrawal completed in good order, but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. Malcolm was murdered. That has a terrible effect on the morality of the people. Im terrified of the repercussions in the streets. One wonders who is next. As the airlift got under way, there was no let up in the eruption itself. Lava streams from a vent low in the crater flow down to the sea on the east of the island, away from the town for the time being, but it could start flowing again at any time. The russians heralded their new Generation Space station with a spectacular night launch. They called it mir, the russian for peace. This is newsday on the bbc. Im rico hizon in singapore. Im Sharanjit Leyl in london. Our top stories us President Donald Trump supports efforts to improve background checks on gun ownership, the white house says, following the florida School Shooting that killed 17 people. A unicef report on global infant mortality has found that many newborn deaths are preventable. Around the world, 2. 6 million babies die each year before turning one month old. Were about to speak to unicef to find out more. Lets ta ke lets take a look at some front pages from around the world. We start with the singapore straits times, where the government is set to raise its goods and services tax by two percentage points, the first such move in a decade. The authorities need to increase revenue amid surging healthcare, security and infrastructure spending, but the changes wont come into effect until at least 2021. The South China Morning Post reveals that the new Prime Minister of nepal wants to restart a chinese led 2. 5 billion hydropower dam project. The project was pulled by the previous government, but the new nepalese pm has promised to reverse the decision. And finally, the arab news is leading with a proposed new law that it says will give israel wider powers to strip palestinians of their right to live in eastjerusalem and the golan heights. It follows earlier attempts to remove Social Security benefits and family reunification rights from palestinians in jerusalem. Lets turn to syria now. State media have been reporting that pro Government Forces are going to enter afrin, in the north of the country, to support kurds fighting turkish forces. But theres no sign yet that theyve been deployed. Turkey regards the kurdish fighters, just across its border, as terrorists and launched a big offensive against them last month. A bbc arabic crew are the only International Broadcasters to have reached the region, as rami ruhayem reports. Inside afrin, the newest frontline in the syrian civil war. The city is the focus of an attack by the turkish army as they vent their angen turkish army as they vent their anger, carrying pictures of the jailed leader of the pkk, a Kurdish Group which has waged decades of war inside turkey. They have been pushing for autonomy and turkey has become increasingly autonomous. Invading Northern Syria was their response. Bbc arabic went through the area patrolled by the army. There was no attempt to stop us. Despite misgivings about kurdish separatist, it seems they have been more incensed by the actions of turkey. It has just been announced they will send troops to repel the invasion. As turkish warplanes attack border villages, syrians flee towards afrin. This dark cellar is all the shelter this woman could find for herself and her children. Translation on that day there was bombing. The planes came over our village. They bombed the area to pick we were frightened and we left. My pick we were frightened and we left. My daughter was crying. We came to this cave. You can see it is dark and scary. The kurdish fighters are resisting the turkish advance. They have been putting out videos showing their attacks on turkish positions. Translation so far, militarily, the turkish army is in crisis. They have entered the syrian territory and have had clashes on the border, but they have not cemented their presence anywhere. But the Turkish Military is showing a different picture. These shots show a kurdish unit struck by a turkish drone and destroyed. The aim of turkey is to prevent the creation of a continuous kurdish region on its border. At the moment fighting is concentrated around afrin. The next objective of turkey is further east, but it is not just Kurdish Forces turkey is further east, but it is notjust Kurdish Forces based in manbij, the us is there as well. They are supporting the kurds against islamic state, which has strained relationships with turkey. It has been pushed away breaking point. We have been clear, support to Kurdish Forces is limited to achieves military objectives. As to afrin, we call upon turkey to show restraint to minimise the casualties of civilians and avoid actions that would escalate tensions in that area. Back inside afrin, the conflict is taking its toll. 21 fighters are being laid to rest. It has come at a cost. The regime will be fighting to extend its sovereignty while the kurds will be fighting to extend their dream of self rule. Rami ruhayem, bbc news. The fast food chain kfc has temporarily closed around 600 restaurants across the uk and ireland after delivery problems meant a shortage of chicken. Kfc said it had been let down by a Logistics Company that took over its supply chain last week. Jon kay has the story. No when youve been promised kfc as a half term treat but there is no chicken. Angry. Sad. And disappointed. Nine year old maxine is not happy. And hungry . Very hungry are you more hungry or angry . Hungry its notjust maxines local outlet. Hundreds across the uk are shut because kf has no c. Theyve run out of chicken. Pretty shocking, really, to be fair. Pretty shocking. Especially when youre hungry, like, you know what i mean . Kfc have blamed teething problems with the new delivery contract. They switched to dhl last week, who say operational issues have disrupted the supply. Its a chicken place, so they should have enough chicken. They should be able to store it. Its a big chain, so it does seem unbelievable, really. All the chicken. Theres farmers, surely there should be enough chickens. We tried several outlets across bristol today but found no fingers being licked. Almost every store closed. Its lunchtime. Youd expect these hatches to be really busy at this point but the kitchen is empty, the fryers switched off. Chicken with fries, please. Chicken with fries. Its a far cry from this. Tonight, the company is encouraging staff to take holidays until it can meet the demand again. Kfc says its own employees will be paid, but the large majority of restaurants are franchises. It just seems amazing. I thought everything was pretty much automated these days and as they use chicken, mores ordered. Something has gone seriously wrong. The company says its working flat out to rectify the problem. But, for some, that is l