i'm babita sharma in london. the headlines: british prime minister theresa may's deputy, damian green, has been sacked over allegations of inappropriate behaviour. a "big, beautiful tax cut". donald trump gets his first major legislative win, after republicans approve the biggest tax overhaul in a generation. i'm rico hizon in singapore. also in the programme: help preserve our beautiful islands. the government of palau is asking to all visitors to sign a pledge not to harm the environment. fans gather to say goodbye at the funeral of south korea's k—pop star kim jong—hyun. welcome to newsday.

it is 8:00am singapore, and midnight here in london, where one of the british prime minister's key allies has been sacked. damian green, who was deputy to the prime minister, theresa may, was found to have made misleading statements about pornography found on a computer in his office. he was also being investigated over claims he had behaved inappropriately towards a female journalist. he has denied wrongdoing. our political editor laura kuenssberg reports. sharing a joke, right by her side, only hours ago. prime minister... damian green, until this afternoon the second—most powerful politician in the country, his old friend theresa may's deputy in government. not anymore. is it right that downing street investigate you? all the allegations are completely false. thank you.

he has always denied doing anything wrong, but number ten asked for an investigation into him after claims from a female journalist that he had behaved inappropriately to her, and allegations he had downloaded porn onto his computer in parliament. he still denies he had anything to do with the porn the police found when they raided his office in 2008. but the inquiry found, and he accepts, that he wasn't honest when he said he knew nothing about it, admitting his lawyers had been told in 2008, and it was raised again in a phone call in 2013. he wrote tonight, i regret i've been asked to resign from the government and, on kate maltby‘s belief that he made unwanted advances, the report found it impossible to reach a definitive conclusion. she wouldn't comment tonight, but her family said they were proud of her for speaking out.

but mr green wrote... it is notjust about the end of his ministerial career, but his closeness to the prime minister. a friend since university, an ally for a leader who keeps a close circle tight. as first secretary of state, my overall — one of my overall responsibilities is for the oversight of intergovernmental relations... and, as a minister on brexit and other issues, his unofficialjob was keeping the show on the road. the prime minister in black and white tonight, clearly sorry to see him go. she wrote... those affectionate words do not make this an elegant departure. many of his colleagues will be furious on his behalf, but damian green himself has accepted that he was misleading, so the prime minister has lost one

of the few politicians she could trust to watch her back. we will have more in damian green's resignation later on tuesday. 0ur other top story, donald trump's overhaul of the us tax system has been formally approved by both houses of congress. he was joined by his republican colleagues to celebrate what is being seen as his biggest legislative success since taking office. here is how he summed up taking office. here is how he summed up the tax bill. we are bringing the entrepreneur back into this country, we are getting rid of all the knobs and all the tyres, and you are going to see what happens. and ultimately what does it mean? it meansjobs. jobs, jobs, jobs. but democrats have called the tax bill a heist. the leader of the party in the senate said there was nothing in the bill for most americans to celebrate. now we know they are popping

champagne down pennsylvania avenue. there are only two places where america is popping champagne. the white house and the corporate boa rd rooms, white house and the corporate boardrooms, including trump tower. 0therwise, americans have a lot to regret. donald trump was also making news today for another reason, after he threatened to cut off american financial aid to any country which backs a united nations resolution opposing the recognition ofjerusalem as the capital of israel. mr trump told reporters the us would save a lot if any recipient of american aid voted against his decision to move his country's embassy to jerusalem. the new leader of south africa's governing anc, cyril ramaphosa, has closed his party's conference with a promise to pursue a policy of radical economic transformation. speaking far later than scheduled, mr ramaphosa said the fight against corruption must be an urgent priority for the party. now, this conference, this

conference has resolved that this must be acted upon, and it must come toa must be acted upon, and it must come to a stop. corruption has to be brought to a stop, and it must happen with immediate effect. the un's investigator into human rights in myanmar has been barred from entering the country. yanghee lee had been due to visit in january to investigate alleged attacks on rohingya muslims in rakhine state. the government said it had banned her because she was not impartial and objective while conducting her work. the military still has and still exercise is a tremendous amount of power throughout myanmar, and

throughout most of the issues in myanmar, especially regarding security issues. and rakhine state is considered a highly secure area. and they did not want to co—operate. a female tv news presenter has quit herjob after learning that her male co—host was being paid almost twice as much. catt sadler, who was a presenter on the e! network, said that once she learned about the pay gap, she asked for what she deserved, but was repeatedly denied. ms sadler said she was resigning to make a stand for all women about what was fair and just. now, here is a new way of finding a solution to delhi's smog problems. an anti—smog cannon has been designed to fire tiny droplets into the sky, which then attach themselves to pollution particles, and remove them from the atmosphere as they fall to the ground. the group behind the scheme admit it is only a temporary solution, but they say that if trials go well, they hope to have machines all over delhi in the coming weeks.

let's return now to our main news this hour, the resignation of the british deputy prime minister, damian green, after he was found to have misled people over pornographic material on a house of commons computer. 0ur political correspondent alex forsyth gave me this update. his resignation followed a long—running enquiry into two different elements, the first that damian green had made inappropriate advances towards a conservative activist, the second concerning allegations that pornography was found on his computer. now, he has consistently denied any wrongdoing when it comes to the substance of those allegations, and the enquiry has reached a conclusion on either. what this is about is whether or not damian green was misleading when he

said he wasn't told about those allegations of pornography. the enquiry found he was, and he has apologised for it and so resigned. now, this is important because he is a very close ally of the prime minister, theresa may. they went to university together. they are very good friends. so her decision—making in this process was being very closely watched. and what we are hearing tonight, the reaction really is that theresa may is getting a lot of support from mps, mps in her own party, who said the fact that she had asked such a close friend and ally to resign is a show of strength rather than a show of weakness. now, you may expect them to say that because they are her own mps. there is also some anger among some at what they see as the way this enquiry was handled by the police. soi enquiry was handled by the police. so i think the reaction is going to develop over the course of coming days. but at this point, despite the fa ct days. but at this point, despite the fact that there have been questions over the stability of theresa may's government throughout the last few months, really, this particular

resignation doesn't seem to have dented her in that respect, so far. have we heard anything, alex, from downing street? well, downing street issued a letter that the prime minister, theresa may, wrote to damian green. it is a very long letter and in it the prime minister ex presses letter and in it the prime minister expresses her extreme sadness at having asked her to resign, she pays tribute to the work he did in government, and the tone of the letter, really you can telljust how deeply she feels, both personally and politically, the loss of such a close ally around the cabinet table. and damian green himself says it is with regret that he was asked to resign will not so clearly this was an unhappy moment for senior figures in the uk government. but so far, conservative mps seem to be saying that it was a brave decision by theresa may as prime minister to choose to effectively sack one of her closest friends. the question now will be what theresa may decides to do next in terms of a possible replacement. it was the other element of this was that damian

green was one of those around the cabinet table who was a big fan of the uk remaining in the eu pre— referendum, so there will be a question about the balance between the brexiteers and the remainers around the cabinet table. fans are gathering to say goodbye at the funeral of south korea's k—pop star kim jong—hyun. his death has triggered an outpouring of grief from fans around the world, and today will see three days of mourning begin for him. it is thought the singer took his own life. a note said to have been written by him revealed he had been struggling with depression. live to seoul, and our correspondent sophie long. and sophie, it is an extremely sad moment for many supporters and fans of kim jong—hyun. moment for many supporters and fans of kim jong-hyun. yes, only about eight minutes ago his body left the hospital here in seoul, in a stretch

black limousine. and there were hundreds of his young fans who are gathered. they came here since very early this morning and stood respectfully in silence, to pay their last respects to their idol. now, he is a member, he was the lead singer, of shinee, one of korea's biggest boy bands. 0ther singer, of shinee, one of korea's biggest boy bands. other members of the bans were inside the hospital. there was sadness. they stood aside until the moment when the car carrying his body drove past and then there was a huge outpouring of emotion. now, his body has been lying at rest here at the hospital in seoulfor the lying at rest here at the hospital in seoul for the last few days and it is estimated that some 10,000 people have come here to pay their respects, numbers so huge, in fact, that the hospital was forced to send some teenage girls, many of whom had queued for hours in subzero temperatures to pay their respects, home, and they came back the next day. many of them standing there today questioning what caused this successful young pop star, he was

just 27 years of age, to take his own life. and sophie, has there been any statement from any of his fellow members, from shinee, regarding his death? well, the bans, when they heard of his death, posted a message on their official twitter account saying no one loved music more than kimjong—hyun, and he would be remembered forever. you mentioned depression in your opening, and that is something that people are really focusing on here, becausejust after his death, another member of k—pop band posted a note thatjong—hyun sent to her in which he spoke about how he felt broken on the inside, and how the depression that was devouring him had last consumed him. soa devouring him had last consumed him. so a lot of questions here today about how mental health is handled in this country, and the level of pressure that young celebrities in

these k—pop bans, which are now huge, they have always been big here in korea but in the last few years k‘p°p in korea but in the last few years k—pop has really lead the korean wave, the export of korean culture, of music and culture across asia and beyond. there will be lots of people in london, injapan, in the united states... shinee, his band, conducted their first states... shinee, his band, conducted theirfirst us states... shinee, his band, conducted their first us tour earlier this year. but the level of fame, it seems, mightjust have been too much forjong—hyun. he was seen by his fans is a sensitive young man who didn't really embrace the hedonism that often goes on with stardom. and in that note to his friend, another k—pop band member, he rarely spoke about how he felt. and that was part of his popularity, his real heartfelt lyrics, that so many people who came here today fell in love with. thank you so much for joining us. you are watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we will reveal how a chinese company is hoping to clean up after inventing a new and rather unlikely use for panda poo. also on the programme: our very

own battle of the christmas lights. will it be britain or the philippines which shines brightest? after eight months on the run, saddam hussein has been tracked down and captured by american forces. saddam hussein is finished, because he killed our people, our women, our children. the signatures took only a few minutes but they brought a formal end to 3.5 years of conflict, conflict that has claimed more than 200,000 lives. before an audience of world leaders, the presidents of serbia, bosnia and croatia put their names to the peace agreement. the romanian border was sealed and silent today. romania has cut itself off from the outside world in order to prevent the details of the presumed massacre in timisoara from leaking out.

from sex at the white house, to a trial for his political life, the lewinsky affair tonight guaranteed bill clinton his place in history as only the second president ever to be impeached. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon, in singapore. i'm babita sharma, in london. our top stories: britain's deputy prime minister damian green is sacked over misleading statements about porn found on his office computer. sweeping tax changes have been approved by congress. donald trump says it will boost the us economy. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world: the international new york times leads on the trump administration's visa policy. the article says that due to new restrictions

many tech companies are considering moving to canada. the south china morning post reports on the housing emergency in hong kong. the paper says the government is sticking to the plan of building 280,000 new flats but experts say there's no more space. the straits times reports on tributes for south korea's k pop star kim jong y—hun. the papers carries this picture of thousands of fans at a memorial for the pop star in singapore. now babita — an unlikely use for something panda—related is sparking discussion online. yes — it's all to do with a firm in china which has signed a deal with a panda reserve to use the bears' droppings to make toilet paper. the waste will be put through a sixty—stage process before being turned into tissue. a box of the paper — which will be marketed under the panda poo brand — is expected to sell for $6.5. now if you're heading

to the pacific island of palau you'll be signing up to a new pledge. from this month, all travellers will be asked to sign an agreement not to harm the environment. palau is an archipelago of over 500 islands and has seen firsthand the impact of global warming. so now the government is asking to all visitors to help preserve the stunningly beautiful islands and explore lightly. i spoke to the president of palau, tommy rememgesau, and asked him if, at this early stage, there was any evidence that tourists were behaving differently having signed the pledge. as you know, the ocean is like a sick person so we do have to partner in the challenge to not only restores the damages but really to prevent the environment from being further destroyed or damaged. to do

this, we have to do a partnership with the tourists and visitors to palau and we are asking them to please ensure that the environment will not be harmed and we can maintain the pristine environment for themselves and the children of palau in the future. are you already seeing tourists behaving differently after having signed the pledge? definitely. the awareness level is very high. we have been monitoring of the airports and surveying the feedback from them and everyone is saying we did not know these facts, this information were there before and now we know we can conduct ourselves that is. more importantly, they say they will spread the message to their fellow travellers and children. do you think this message will be spread to other

countries? you are at the first country to do this, do you think other countries will do this as well? we certainly hope so. this is something that we hope we start in palau but the concept is that we need to partner, whether it is a one country or visiting the country for the first time ought subsequently, we need to all put our effort to gather in this. it is notjust the children of a particular country we need to think of but the people of the world, the people of that country, the visitors to that country. the government of taiwan has announced funding to help comic strip businesses. there has been strict censorship during the martial law years from the 1962 the 1980s. we spoke to one of the countries most important comic artists. christmas is just four days away and that got us thinking here on newsday, which country does it best?

i wonder what rico is up to! well the uk is full of everything christmassy, secret santas, amazing christmas lights, mince pies and music. you can't beat a christmas in the uk. not so fast babita, we also take things extremely seriously in the philippines. just take a look at this report from our correspondent in manila, howard johnson, who went to see something rather special in cainta. this is the extravagant christmas house in cainta, on the philippines capital, manila. it takes about an hour to get here from the capital

and this year is the biggest yet. around 1 million lightbulbs lighting up around 1 million lightbulbs lighting up this place. it has been going on 14 up this place. it has been going on 1a years and we cant get so busy that around 100,000 people come to sea. putting it together takes about x months, normally starting around august, the whole family get involved and behind it is this family. his father started this project. how did it come about? became from humble beginnings. we are giving back to the community and the people. it isjust are giving back to the community and the people. it is just sharing the spirit of christmas. it must be a huge electricity bill? my father used to work in the biggest electric company in the philippines. kidding aside, this is him give them back

the scholarship that he got from the electric company. it gets pretty busy on weekends. some neighbours are not too happy about it? because of the privacy issues but, actually, because we are developing a community, we are actually banning of moving it out there, in a public area. thank you very much. so this is open to the public until the first week of february. it is free of charge and you can come along if you are in manila. this country celebrates christmas from as early as september and the lights go on here again in november. so there you go babita — the phillippines has it — nothing to rival that house with a million light blubs! yeah well rico — one thing we are famous for around the world is our christmas lights. and i think this year's lights on 0xford street are the best they have ever been! stunning! the cold weather that we had during

the first half of december is a long way behind us and, really, in the run—up to christmas and including christmas the weather looks pretty mild. the weather front through central areas of the uk with extensive cloud on a westerly winds which are fairly light. mist and fog patches around the cost and hills across england and wales. patches of light rain and drizzle to start the day as well. slightly drier weather for scotland although the far north could see it rained. as we start thursday morning, a murky start to the day with fog in south—west england. in the downs and chilton, a

few patches of light rain or drizzle easing away. don't weather in northern ireland. in scotland, a dry and bright start. i cloud in the sky and bright start. i cloud in the sky and some sunshine coming through that in many areas. for the rest of thursday, the weather front pushing northwards and eastwards stop it will stay cloudy for most of us. the cloud to have is thinning in the afternoon to allow brighter spells in the east. the cloud across wales, north—west england threatening a spot of rain. the brightest weather across scotland with slightly cooler air. for most of us, a day of double—figure temperatures. the m 0 u conditions continuing through thursday night onto the first part of friday morning. —— the mild conditions. rain working in across southern counties of england. kula across the far north—east of

scotland. the friday, again a rather disappointing cloudy picture. try and bright for most of us in the afternoon. when blowing across the mountains of scotland and it is the eastern side that will have limited ra kes eastern side that will have limited rakes in the cloud. temperatures mild. the mild theme set to continue as we head into the weekend and indeed for christmas day with the wind is generally coming from the west and south—west. to start the weekend, a lot of cloud around for most of us. thick enough to give us a few spots of light rain. perhaps more weight across the north—west of scotland. slightly stronger winds with the chance of seeing some brea ks with the chance of seeing some breaks in the cloud. christmas day, staying mild, often cloudy perhaps brighterfor most staying mild, often cloudy perhaps brighter for most of us on christmas day itself. i'm babita sharma with bbc world news. our top story: the british prime minister's deputy, damian green, has been sacked after making misleading statements about pornography

on his office computer. the prime minister, theresa may, said it was with deep regret that she had asked him to resign. he has denied wrongdoing. donald trump's overhaul of the us tax system has been formally approved by both houses of congress. the president wasjoined by his republican colleagues to celebrate what is being seen as his biggest legislative success since taking office. and this video is trending on bbc.com. fans are gathering in seoul at the funeral of kim jong—hyun, to say goodbye to the south korean k—pop star. his death has triggered an outpouring of grief from fans around the world. that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news. now on bbc news, it is time for hardtalk.