i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: britain rebukes donald trump for sharing inflammatory, anti—muslim videos posted online by the far—right group britain first. look, again, whether it's a real video, the threat is real, and that is what the president is talking about. after north korea's latest missile test, the us ambassador to the un issues another blunt warning to kim jong—un. if war comes, make no mistake. the north korean regime will be utterly destroyed. i'm ben bland in london. also in the programme: a convicted bosnian war criminal kills himself by drinking poison in court, after his sentence is upheld. who are you? walter raleigh. and we will be speaking to the director of the oscar—winning film elizabeth, shekhar kapoor, ahead of the 28th singapore

international film festival. it is 7:00am in singapore, 11:00pm in london, and 6:00pm in washington, where president trump has again angered the muslim world by retweeting three inflammatory, anti—muslim videos posted by a far—right group. the videos, posted by one of the leaders of britain first, purport to show muslims destroying a christian statue, killing a boy, and attacking a disabled man. britain has criticised president trump for sharing the videos. but the white house insisted mr trump was keen to highlight genuine threats, regardless of whether the footage was real, as our correspondent nick bryant reports. britain first!

fighting back! britain first is a far—right, anti—muslim group with a small membership, that often engages in publicity stunts to try to raise its profile. and early this morning it received a huge propaganda gift from donald trump, the "america first" president. on his twitter feed, he retweeted three inflammatory videos from the group's deputy leader, jayda fransen, the first claiming incorrectly to show a muslim migrant attacking a man on crutches. you think you can take over towns, and tell us that it's your country? this is jayda fransen in action. earlier this month, she was charged with using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour during speeches she made in belfast. for her, these presidential retweets are manna from heaven. "god bless you, trump," she tweeted. "god bless america." from the family of the murdered mp jo cox, there has been a despairing response. she was killed by a right—wing extremist who shouted "britain

first." i have to say, i thought it was a horrendous thing to do. britain first is a well—known hate group. it drives hatred against muslims. and donald trump is the president of our nearest ally, and the fact that he didn't check first, or didn't even think about the content of those tweets before doing it, i think suggests his judgement is hugely lacking. merry christmas, said the president, as he ignored questions about his tweeting. but downing street has spoken out, saying it was wrong for the president to have done this, but added that his invitation to make a state visit to britain next year still stands. as for the president's spokeswoman, she was unapologetic. the threat is real, the threat needs to be addressed, the threat has to be talked about, and that's what the president is doing in bringing that up. previous us administrations have liked to think of themselves as beacons of democratic values, but that has not been a high

priority for the trump white house. many people around the world will be saddened and sickened to see the president of the united states appearing to validate tweets from a far—right group. ten months into this unorthodox and provocative presidency, donald trump still has the capacity to shock. nick bryant, bbc news, new york. let's take a look at some of the day's other news the north korean regime will be utterly destroyed if war breaks out. that is what the us ambassador, nikki haley, hasjust said at an emergency meeting of the security council. it comes after north korea tested another ballistic missile with intercontinental range. president trump says he has asked the chinese president, xi jinping, to cut off china's crude oil supplies to pyongyang. 0ur correspondent laura bicker has more. serious words from nikki haley. she

described north korea as an international pariah. she said the us had never sought a war with north korea, but she said this brings the world closer to war, not further from it, referring to the launch yesterday. and she said those words, that if war does come, make no mistake, north korea will be destroyed. she also outlined a call between president xi of china and president trump today, where the white house is asking china to cut off crude oil supplies to north korea. now, nikki haley outlined that china did so in 2003, and not long afterwards, north korea came to the table to negotiate. she called on president xi to do the right thing, and then intriguingly, she said china must show leadership and follow—through, or we can take the situation into our own hands, which right now we are not quite sure what she means by that. also making news today: pope francis has called on senior buddhist clerics in myanmar to overcome intolerance, prejudice and hatred. he was speaking to the supreme

council of buddhist monks, after celebrating an open—air mass in front of tens of thousands of people. the pope is due to travel to neighbouring bangladesh on thursday to meet rohingya muslim refugees. translation: i would like my visit to embrace the entire population of myanmar, and to offer a word of encouragement towards building an inclusive and just social order. a 96—year—old former nazi ss guard has been told he must serve a four—year prison sentence despite his old age. 0skar groening was known as the ‘bookkeeper of auschwitz‘. he was found guilty in 2015 of being an accessory to the murders of 300,000 people at the death camp in occupied poland. another big tv star in the us, matt lauer, the morning anchor for nbc news, has been fired for sexual misconduct. he was sacked after a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behaviour. it comes just a week after cbs news fired its morning anchor charlie rose for similar reasons. apple has released an update

of the latest operating system running on its mac computers, to fix a serious security problem. the flaw in macos high sierra made it possible to access a computer without a password and change its settings. apple apologised to mac users for releasing the flawed software, and for the concern it has caused. usually people jump out of planes to get their kicks, but two french daredevils have gone one better. in a breathtaking stunt, the pair dived off a mountain in the alps, before gliding to jump into a plane, mid—air. it took them over 100 practice flights to perfect the dangerous feat. one of the most prominent figures in the bosnian civil war has killed

himself in court, after he was convicted of crimes against humanity. moments afterjudges had upheld his conviction at the international criminal tribunal, in the hague, slobodan praljak said he rejected the verdict, and drank what he said was poison. 0ur middle east editorjeremy bowen, who testified at the tribunal about his experiences reporting the conflict, has the story. his report contains some distressing images. slobodan praljak and his co—defendants were being told their appeals against long jail sentences had failed, when praljak kept standing, to insist one last time that he was innocent. slobodan praljak is not a war criminal. i am rejecting the court ruling. he drank from a vial of liquid. i have taken poison.

the court, dealing with its final case after 25 years, was stunned. don't take away the glass that he used when he drank something. the emergency services arrived. praljak died later in hospital. in 2007, i was a prosecution witness in the trial of praljak and his co—defendants in the hague. he cross—examined me, outraged that he was being prosecuted for, as he saw it, doing his duty. i testified because in 1993, in the depths of the bosnian war, i had seen what they had done in mostar, in the south of the country. this was the 400—year—old 0ttoman bridge, then under fire from praljak‘s forces. it was a symbol of the old bosnia that they wanted to dismantle. the destruction of the old bridge wasjust one item on a long list of war crimes.

in 1993, bosnian soldiers who were besieged on the east side of mostar, along with thousands of civilians, were fighting back against bosnian croat forces led by slobodan praljak. he was convicted of the murder of civilians, men like this. with his wife and his neighbours, i tried to help him, but he was already dead. civilians were dying because praljak and his co—defendants were trying to establish an ethnically uniform state for bosnian croats, which the court decided was a joint criminal enterprise. their war crimes included the persecution of civilians, mainly muslims, they wanted to kill or expelled. at night, i saw civilians under fire being forced over the front line into east mostar.

these pictures were evidence in praljak‘s trial. i heard many first—hand accounts of murder, rape and ethnic cleansing at the hands of bosnian croat forces from the traumatised people arriving in east mostar. after the war, the old bridge was rebuilt, but mostar and all of bosnia herzegovina is still divided on ethnic lines. at least the victims, thousands of whom appeared in the hague, have had somejustice from the international criminal tribunal for the former yugoslavia. its work to convict the worst war criminals europe has seen since the nazis should not be overshadowed by the suicide of slobodan praljak. planes are flying once again from the international airport in bali, after being disrupted for three days. that was caused by an eruption of mount agung. up to 100,000 people have been ordered to evacuate the area close to the volcano. thousands of tourists have been stranded. 0ur correspondent hywel griffiths is in bali, and says things

will take a while until they are back to normal. i gather the airport was only able to resume flights in and out because ofa to resume flights in and out because of a change in the wind. is that right? yes, it has got nothing to do really with the activity that continues on mount agung behind me, among those clouds. it is more to do with the wind direction and the weather. so at the moment, although there is an as cloud still building above mount agung, a south—easterly wind is pushing it away from the airport and away from the landing zone, so planes airport and away from the landing zone, so planes are airport and away from the landing zone, so planes are able to go in and out. however, resuming flights does not mean that confusion is over. 0bviously does not mean that confusion is over. obviously there were tens of thousands of people who were due to leave bali over the next few days, so leave bali over the next few days, so they are now desperate to be on one of those flights. some airlines, like virgin, qantas, jetstar, are offering extra flights today. i began, it is all dependent on the weather conditions. if the weather

changes, then we could see more cancelled flights. on the other big concern is for the people who live there, the villagers. are they heeding the warning is to evacuate and get to safer places?” heeding the warning is to evacuate and get to safer places? i have to say, that process is still pretty slow. we were told that 100,000 people lived within the danger zone around the mountain. so far, only 43,000 have actually evacuated from their homes and left. we have been to some of the evacuation camps. some people arriving there yesterday, some have actually been there two months, is that the tremors darted. the tremors are continuing. there was a lot of seismic activity last night, but so far some people reticent to leave. i guess they are leaving their lives and their livelihoods behind if they do so. many thanks. you are watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we will be speaking to the director of this oscar—winning film elizabeth, shekhar kapoor, ahead of the 28th singapore international film festival. it is quite clear that the worst

victims of this disaster are the poor people living in the slums which have sprung up around the factory. the children are dying in front of me, and i can't do anything. charles manson is the mystical leader of the hippie cult, who killed six people in los angeles. at 11am this morning, just half a metre of rock separated britain from continental europe. it took the drillsjust britain from continental europe. it took the drills just a few moments took the drills just a few moments to cut through the final obstacle.

then a to cut through the final obstacle. thena minerfrom to cut through the final obstacle. then a miner from calais was shaking hands and exchanging flags with his opposite number from dover. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm ben bland in london. our top stories. politicians across the board have condemned president trump for re—tweeting anti—muslim videos posted by the far right group, britain first. but the white house says it is standing by the message. a bosnian croat general has killed himself by drinking poison in court after his war crimes conviction was upheld. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. north korea's missile test is making the front pages of most asia—based newspapers on wednesday morning, including the japan times. it leads with a picture of residents in pyongyang reacting to the news of the successful launch

of the long—range ballistic missile. the straits times focuses on donald trump's promise of major sanctions against north korea. it talks about how the south korean president and japanese prime minister have also agreed to ramp up pressure against north korea. and the south china morning post has a front page story about a us probe on chinese trade. washington is launching an anti—dumping investigation into imports of chinese sheet aluminium and says it is the first "self—initiated" probe by washington since 1991. now, ben, what stories are sparking discussions online? yes, let's looks at what is trending right now.

two us citizens are being held in thailand after they posted an online picture of themselves posing with their buttocks exposed at bangkok's famous wat arun temple. immigration authorities say the pair would be fined and deported. the country has very strict laws on behaviour considered disrespectful and offensive to its buddhist religion. pope francis has called on senior buddhist clerics in myanmar to overcome intolerance, prejudice and hatred. he was speaking to members of the supreme council of buddhist monks after celebrating an open—air mass in front of tens of thousands of people. the pope is due to travel to neighbouring bangladesh on thursday, where he will meet some of the more than 600,000 rohingya muslims who have fled myanmar. jonathan head reports from yangon. we can go to bankgkok via skype now to speak to kate vigneswaran from the human rights group, fortify rights. give us your assessment of the

impact, the overall effect of this trip by the pope. thank you for having me. ithink trip by the pope. thank you for having me. i think the international community has been watching. religious groups have been watching. i think there has been, while there has been welcoming of the pope ‘s visit and the statements he has made about equality for all religious and ethnic groups in myanmar, there is some disappointment that he has failed to speak out more strongly on the human rights violations being perpetrated a against the rohingya group, particularly fair. 0ther religious minorities as well that have been expressing human rights violations for sometime. —— particularly there. we will see what happens when he goes to bangladesh and whether he makes strong state m e nts and whether he makes strong statements once he has seen the dire situation that the more than 600,000 rohingya are facing death. —— are

facing a there. we are yet to see any facing a there. we are yet to see a ny clear facing a there. we are yet to see any clear statement that would lead to any action. batts said. -- about said, we don't know what was said behind closed doors and those conversations in which he may have put more pressure on could have greater effect because they were private. —— that said. greater effect because they were private. -- that said. we do not know what has been said behind closed doors but we do know that the myanmar military and the myanmar government have denied that violations have been ongoing for a long time. aung san suu kyi herself has come out and denied they have occurred. i think, has come out and denied they have occurred. ithink, to has come out and denied they have occurred. i think, to make state m e nts occurred. i think, to make statements in private, is likely to have very little impact. at this stage, even what the international community has been doing, quiet diplomacy or even making a stronger

public statements, have failed to produce any significant results. i would be very surprised to see any result, perhaps with the meeting with aung san suu kyi, we are yet to see. the singapore international film festival is back with its 28th edition and a host of international movies and talks for every kind of cinema—fan's taste. one of the heated discussion topics will no doubt be the stream of allegations against film mogul harvey weinstein that has rocked hollywood. one of the master classes featured at this year's singapore film festival is by shekhar kapur, the renowned indian director known for his biopics ‘bandit queen', the oscar—winning ‘elizabeth‘ and its sequel ‘elizabeth: the golden age'. and i'm pleased to say shekhar kapur joins me live in the studio now. laid you can join

laid you canjoin us! —— glad. in a masterclass, what are you going to tell us about the trends in asian cinema? something we have been seen for a long time but is showing up now, asia is a new way of storytelling. 0ur storytelling here comes from centuries and centuries of traditions of storytelling and in the west sometimes they call it melodramatic. i'm saying it's not melodramatic, it is mythic. because life is mythic, being born is mythic, falling in love is mythic. asia is dying to tell stories so the films coming out of asia have a lot more substance than the films coming out of the west. why? because we are new to it, because we have so many stories, it is like a jack in the box effect. everybody is dying to tell a story. western cultures have kind of plateaued and asian cultures

are rediscovering themselves. in the west, it is kind of a plateau. that's why they have so many franchises, they don't know what else to do. all of the superhero movies. everyone still looks at hollywood as the benchmark. there is also the issue about diversity. there are many complaints by actors in hollywood that it is not inclusive to asian actors and actresses. it starts in the script. i remember, honestly, at one time, i was attached to telling the story of nelson mandela. that film with me never happened but i remember a hollywood producer telling me at that time, who is interested in its story of a black man, internationally? it starts at the script stage, not casting stage. people would never believe people would see those forms. now we know how wrong they are. in the international market, nobody thought you would want to see a film about a

non— caucasian you would want to see a film about a 11011— caucasian man. you would want to see a film about a non- caucasian man. the issue bond from diversity is the sexual harassment issues that have been born from film mogul harvey weinstein. —— born from diversity. weinstein. —— born from diversity. we have heard a lot about the hash tag me too. is this a big secret thatis tag me too. is this a big secret that is now rocking the film industry worldwide? it was never a secret. everybody knew. everybody was, harvey is up to it again. it is like being a bad boy is like having a badge of honour, they never grow up. it doesn't start there. it sta rts up. it doesn't start there. it starts from the way women are perceived to be objectified in film and every second film, the woman is objectified. that is the attitude. it was never a secret. hollywood is the biggest films industry in the world and bollywood is getting there as well but it seems like nobody wa nts to as well but it seems like nobody wants to come forward from the

bollywood industry to name and shame these kinds of perpetrators. bollywood industry to name and shame these kinds of perpetratorsm bollywood industry to name and shame these kinds of perpetrators. it will come. remember, the same thing happens all over the world. the cost of not getting a part in bollywood is to starve. the cost of not getting a part in hollywood is that your career might not be taking off. how can we wipe out this kind of abuse from the industry? write scripts and make films that don't objectify women. that they are not just sexual toys in a just sexual toys in movie, objectify women. that they are not just sexual toys in movie, and secondly, we must not see ourselves asa secondly, we must not see ourselves as a powerplay. it is prevalent in the sports industry as well as hollywood. across all industries. yes and we have to understand it is time we stopped looking at women as objects and property. yes, we have

looked at women as property. they are no longer property. we have to leave it there. we appreciate you joining us at newsday. if all we go, i need to tell you that i love your films. thank you so much forjoining us films. thank you so much forjoining us right here on newsday. hollywood and bollywood and internationalfilm director, shekhar kapur. you have been watching newsday. stay with us.. we will be investigating how to restart growth in india — one way they government's looking to do it is via the banking system. and before we go, let's take a look at these pictures. the next crew of the international space station are conducting their final training sessions before launching into space next month for a five and half month mission. milder, well, less cold air will be

with us for the weekend but with that, lots of cloud. many of us in the day ahead will have sunshine and arctic air around high pressure to the west and low pressure to the east. arctic air, of course, it is very cold. widespread frost to start thursday. icy patches where we have had showers overnight and it is a town and city temperatures. of course, it is called in rural spots. the coldest parts of northern england and scotland will be down to about minus seven as the day begins. many of us will start with some sunshine. we have fleet and is no showers affecting north and northeast scotland —— fleet. down as far south as norfolk. rain showers mainly for northern ireland. a beautifully to the hills. a scattering of fresh snow showers in north—east scotland is along the east coast, some of the showers will have pushed a little bit further inland so some accumulations to places. especially to the hills to start the day. mainly rain showers

western parts of wales, sleet and snow to the high ground. cold, frosty, cold start to the day for most of us. along the coast and just inland across eastern parts of england. driven in by a strong — gale force wind here. it will continue for wales and dotted about northern ireland and northern scotland. around the midlands, south—west scotland, will have sunshine but another cold day. colder still when you factor in the wind. especially where it is strongest across the north sea coast. a subtle change of wind direction thursday evening and night, more of these sleet and snow showers pushed further inland, again, giving accumulations in place is especially on hills. 0ut west, we stay mainly dry. a lot of clear, cold weather. quite a hard frost particularly across parts of scotla nd particularly across parts of scotland as we start of friday morning. some sleet and snow showers, some accumulations to

eastern part of england on friday. a lot of the showers turning to rain 01’ lot of the showers turning to rain or sleet as we go on through the day. a change of scotland and northern ireland as it clouds over from the north—west and a bit of patchy rain and hill snow starting to move in here. that is a sign of the change coming in for the weekend as this weather front with through, we change the wind direction back to more from the atlantic rather than the arctic. that will be a change in the arctic. that will be a change in the feel of the weather. less cold, milder air, moves in from weekend. it will come with plenty of clout, asi it will come with plenty of clout, as i mentioned earlier. —— cloud. you are watching bbc world news. our top story: president trump has caused controversy for retweeting anti—muslim videos posted by the far—right group britain first. britain has condemned the move, but the white house says it is standing by the message. the north korean regime will be utterly destroyed if war breaks out. that is what the us ambassador, nikki haley, hasjust said

at an emergency meeting of the security council. it comes after north korea tested another ballistic missile with intercontinental range. and this video is trending on bbc.com. in a breathtaking stunt, a pair of french daredevils dived off a mountain in the alps, before gliding to jump into a plane, mid—air. it took them over 100 practice flights to perfect the dangerous feat. that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news, it is time for hardtalk.