welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: beyond fake news. as social media is blamed for an increase in vigilante attacks across the globe, the bbc begins a major new season looking at the consequences. we'll bring you in—depth coverage. commemorating 100 years since the armistice that ended the first world war. in paris, world leaders put aside their differences to unite in remembrance. the death toll from california's wildfires rises to 31. the state governor urges president trump to declare a major disaster. shame on who? protestors at the beirut marathon demand change in the way cases of sexual assault and rape are handled. hello and welcome.

we begin with our season on the challenges of disinformation and fake news. that's false information being shared or published that's deliberately misleading or inaccurate. the bbc has conducted a major study into the spread of fake news and the psychology behind it. its results will be used to help the search for solutions. for the first time, this study looked inside encrypted messaging apps. in india rumours spread via whatsapp have already had devastating consequences. take a look at this. the remotest parts of this country now have access to internet

and whatsapp and a lot of these people are not digitally literate so they will believe whatever they see on whatsapp. he would love to play the djembe and the didgeridoo. he was more like a brother to me. we almost share everything that goes in our life. he was very spiritual. he believed in changing the world through love. but somewhere, when we saw him, we envied his life. translation: people here are very afraid of hopadora. as it gets dark, the men come out of their houses and start protecting the village.

translation: i have heard from children that these messages of child kidnappers are circulating on whatsapp. translation: they were carrying sickles, knives and sticks. translation: the mob started shouting, "child lifter, child lifter!" translation: the atmosphere was so tense that not even god could have saved them. we got videos immediately almost. people started sending it to me where he was crying for mercy, when he was shouting, he was shouting at the top of this voice. when i got this call,

it was. . . it was horrific. and the very moment when he pulled me in, i froze. translation: my whole life is destroyed after my son's death. i wish god had taken my life so i didn't have to see this day. crowd: justice, justice! justice, justice! justice! the primary issue is that

of governance and not technology. the technology will keep advancing and the society needs to keep up with it and it is the government'sjob to raise awareness so the citizens can keep up with advancing technology. we will have more coverage coming up. throughout this week, we'll be exploring the issues around misinformation in our beyond fake news season. you can also follow the debate on our website and look at the latest research after users gave the bbc unprecedented access to their messaging apps in india, kenya and nigeria. that's all at bbc.com/fakenews. events to mark the centenary of the end of world war one have been taking place around the world.

in paris, around 70 world leaders attended a service at the tomb of the unknown soldier at the arc de triomphe. there president macron urged a rejection of nationalism, warning that old demons were coming back to the surface. our europe editor katya adler reports. grief flows unchecked across borders. regret knows no frontiers. presidents and heads of government of most of the 80 countries involved in the first world war came here to paris today to remember the slaughtered millions of the first truly global conflict. president macron‘s message above all others at this commemoration — we're in this together, in our past, our present and our future. no opportunity was wasted for the french president

to drive his internationalist message home. he urged action, at a time when he said old demons were resurfacing in europe and beyond. translation: patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism. nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. by saying, "our interests first, who cares about the others?", we erase what a nation holds dearest, what gives it life, what makes it great. and what is most important of all, its moral values. but not everyone here is on the same page as emmanuel macron. united in their pledge of "never again" today, the world leaders gathered here have starkly competing visions when it comes to how to avoid future conflict. let's stick together and work together, insists emmanuel macron, and vladimir putin and donald trump

applauded him politely today. but for them, a strong and sovereign nation state certainly comes first. winston churchill once said, "those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it." in an attempt to boost international cooperation, president macron today launched an annual peace forum, mirroring the paris peace conference that followed the first world war. i think it is important that we all remember that we can never take peace for granted, and that we have to learn lessons from the past. some of those institutions we built after the first and the second world war, the un, the european union, nato, some of those institutions are under pressure. the sounds, symbols and searing memories of the great war echoed across europe today. this was ypres, in belgium,

site of some of the most blood—soa ked battlefields. then this evening, just as dusk was falling, british and commonwealth veterans, survivors of more recent conflicts, gathered together in the paris cathedral of notre dame. remembering a world war with sadness, praying for world peace in hope. the governor of california has urged president trump to declare a major disaster in response to wildfires ravaging the state. there are fears that strengthening winds could make the situation worse. 31 people are now known to have died and more than 110 have been reported missing. our north america correspondent james cook reports. paradise is no more, ravaged by the most destructive

wildfire in california's history, and one of the deadliest. in the ashes, they toil. their task, distressing and delicate, is to find answers for the living. i have two sons and two grandchildren up there. i can't find out anything about them. i don't know if they're alright, or if they have got out. i've been to the shelters in chico, they're not there. so i don't know where else to look. i'm just hoping they're coming down the hill, i'll catch them here. what a mess. and the crisis is far from over. 250,000 people have fled, and 80,000 firefighters are struggling to save everything, from celebrity mansion to mountain shack. well, the owners of this home were clearly unlucky, but firefighters have been working really hard in this community. they've been battling, they've had aircraft

in the sky as well, and their work has been paying off. so far, they have saved many, many more homes than they have lost. in the us this year, wildfires have burned an area larger than belgium and luxembourg combined, well above average. california is warmer and drier than it used to be. fires are more volatile. this is not the new normal, this is the new abnormal. and this abnormal will continue, certainly in the next 10 to 15 to 20 years and unfortunately, the best science is telling us that dryness, warmth, drought, all those things, they are going to intensify. man: i'm surrounded by fire. faced with catastrophe, president trump's first comment was a threat to cut california's funding if it didn't improve forest management. the president of the firefighters' union called it shameless,

ill—informed and demeaning. after a brief lull, the dusty desert winds which drive these fires are roaring again. and, with more homes and lives at risk, the governor of california is urging the white house to declare a major disaster. james cook, bbc news, los angeles. we will certainly keep across those fires and bring you any updates. israeli troops have clashed with hamas militants in gaza. the fighting took place east of the khan yunis area of the gaza strip. palestinian health officials say six people were killed. one of them was said to be a senior hamas military commander. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we will be finding out more about how fake news gets onto your social media news feed, and why people are so willing to share it. the bombastic establishment outsider donald trump has defied

the pollsters to take the keys to the oval office. i feel great about the election results. i voted for him because i genuinely believe that he cares about the country. it's keeping the candidate's name always in the public eye that counts. success or failure depends not only on public display, but on the local campaign headquarters, and the heavy, routine work of their women volunteers. berliners from both east and west linked hands and danced round their liberated territory. and with nobody to stop them, it wasn't long before the first attempts were made to destroy the structure itself. yasser arafat, who dominated the palestinian cause for so long, has died. the palestinian authority has declared a state of mourning. after 17 years of discussion, the result was greeted with an outburst ofjoy. women ministers, who'd long felt only grudgingly accepted among the ranks of clergy, suddenly felt welcomed. this is bbc world news.

the latest headlines: as social media is blamed for a rise in vigilante violence around the world, the bbc has pledged to be part of the fight against fake news. we will bring you a month of special programming. let's stay with that now. donald trump has often dismissed unfavourable or critical media coverage as "fake news". bbc hardtalk‘s stephen sackur sat down with executive editor of the washington post, martin baron, and asked him how fake news is changing the media landscape. we have just seen one of the most remarkable performances i have ever seen from a leader, and let's face it, this is the most important leader in the world, in front of the massed ranks of the american news,

white house correspondents, he accused some of them of being horrible, of being disgusting, he clearly believes they are lying. he has now revoked the white house pass of one senior correspondent working for cnn. is there an obligation on you, as one of the most senior figures in the washington media elite, to take a stand? well, we have taken a stand, and i have taken a stand, and i've spoken about it very often. i've said this has a corrosive effect. i've pointed out that we are not the opposition party. i've pointed out the flaws in statements he was making, and that this is having a very deleterious effect on the role of the press in the united states, and that it's inappropriate of a president to say things like this that are flatly untrue. in particular, whenjournalists are in a room with the president and he behaves in a way

he recently behaved, do you believe usjournalists have to reconsider how they respond to him? for example, in this particular example, where the president refused to ta ke questions from certain journalists, where he has now banned one particular journalist, is it incumbent on the other journalists in the white house press corps to show solidarity, for example, to consider walking out of a news conference? well, that's one option, that you've presented. there are other options. another is for the reporter to ask the very same question, or to give another reporter more time to ask a question that the president has cut off. so there are plenty of other options beside walking out. what do you want to see happen? well, i'd like to see — in this most recent press conference, the white house decided to rescind the press credentials of a cnn reporter, and obviously that's completely inappropriate. the white house correspondents association has said in a statement that that's inappropriate. other news organisations have said it's

inappropriate, and my hope is the white house will see the error of its ways and restore his credentials. look, we know what it's like to have credentials withdrawn, and we had ours withdrawn by the trump campaign during the presidential campaign. so we know what that's like. but we also know that we have to keep doing ourjobs, and the most important thing the press can do is continue asking the kinds of questions that need to be asked. but there are times when certain critics of the media here in washington think that it has become a circus, donald trump is the ringmaster, he is dictating the terms of the relationship, and journalists are frankly dancing to his tune. yeah, well, some people say that. i just don't happen to believe that's the case. and the important thing is we do not dance to his tune. the important thing is that we do journalistm, we report stories and ask the hard questions, and the best thing the press can do is to continue

to ask the hard questions of the administration, in the way it's supposed to do, and not be intimidated. you can watch the full interview on hardtalk on monday. head to bbc.com/hardtalk and find the broadcast times where you are. what about fake news on social media — how it gets onto your news feed, and why are we so willing to share it? zoe kleinman explores how fake news goes viral, the role of social network algorithms in its spread, and how automated bots push false stories to millions. fake news is notjust news you don't like. fake news is designed to spread confusion and obscure the truth with lies, hoaxes, and conspiracies. and there is a lot of it around. in the summer, facebook warned millions of us that content we had seen on our news feeds had actually come from accounts linked to russia and iran, so how on earth did it reach us? fake news is often posted on legitimate—looking websites and social media pages. the stories are designed to be

sensational or controversial, making them more likely to be shared, especially if they back up our existing beliefs. sometimes they are even mixed in with real news stories. fake news can be amplified by bots, automated accounts designed to look like real people. there can be millions of them, commenting on am reposting stories to make it look like the story is going viral. then, when celebrities or organisations share them, they lend credibility to the fake news. the social networks are working to limit the spread of fake news, but it is not easy. facebook said it had to give up putting the red warning triangle next to fake news stories, because it just made people more likely to read them. now, they are trying to make

fake news less prominent in our news feeds. but, when a story has it in the millions, they may be too late to make a correction. and what about private messages, where news travels without public scrutiny? sometimes fake news is easy to spot. sometimes the article is badly written, or the images don't look quite right. but, as technology gets more sophisticated and accessible, it is becoming to harder believe what we see and hear online. more now on the events to mark the centenary of the end of world war i. the commemorations saw a unique memorial to those who lost their lives, with portraits of servicemen and women etched into the sand around britain's coastline. duncan kennedy reports. the piercing eyes of a celebrated war poet, today etched onto the very beach he had once left on his way to battle and death. for wilfred 0wen, a shoreline for embarkation this morning became

a canvas of commemoration. the project has been organised by the film director danny boyle, who says the face is a metaphorfor tragedy. look, it's wonderful that there are permanent structures that will outlive us and outlast us. but i thought it was a good way to reflect on our own, um...time here, you know, which is temporary, really. as the tide ebbed away, artists crafted the contours of the face. hundreds of people took in the imagery, the symbolism, and reflected on loss and sacrifice. feels very much like he's here, and he's alive, and he's, as you say, representing so many people. really special, really special. the stares of the fallen gazed out from 31 other beaches, too. at moray in scotland,

captain charles sorley, dead at 20. in northumberland, private william jonas, who perished at the somme. archiejewell, here in cornwall, survived the titanic, only to be killed by a german u—boat. in lincolnshire, lieutenant basil hicks died on the first day of the battle of loos. in fife, dr elsie inglis, who helped wounded french soldiers. whilst in thornby, volunteers spoke of their admiration for captain john armitage, who fell fighting at arras. to see the turnout, and then particularly the last post and so many people quiet, and paying their respects tojohn armitage and first world war casualties, it's truly quite remarkable. eventually, the waters of impatient tides rolled in across each face, like the tears of a lost generation, masked by the waves but enduring in memory. marathons often draw thousands

of people who line the streets and show support for the runners. but this weekend's beirut marathon got crowds of a different sort — protestors trying to raise awareness of how survivors of rape are treated. using the hashtag "shame on who", they hoped to change attitudes within society, as lebo diseko reports. "i will not run, i will face my rapist" — the message from campaigners at the beirut marathon on sunday. dozens of activists, many dressed in black, lined the route, with some even standing among the runners on the course. the campaign was organised by a local ngo with the aim of shifting the focus of who gets the blame for such crimes. translation: today's activities on the sidelines of the beirut international marathon are part of a week—long campaign

called shame 0n who, which tries to shed light on the culture of blame that is placed on women who are raped. translation: today i decided to face the rapist, for every girl who has been subjected to sexual assault or rape. i'm also doing this to tell every boy and girl that they are able to confront the rapist in society, and that is not the girl's fault. according to activists, a quarter of women in lebanon have been sexually assaulted, and they say most cases go unreported. last year, the country's parliament scrapped a law that allowed the country's rapists to go free if they raped their victims.

these protesters hope their actions will encourage new conversations and ultimately change in attitudes. lebo diseko, bbc news. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ reged ahmad bbc. hello. the week ahead will once again be a fairly mild one for the time of year, even if we start the week on a fairly fresh note for some. but it's a week that starts the way the weekend finished, with some fairly blustery showers around, particularly in the south and west. we've got low pressure with us, basically a zone of rising air helping to build those shower clouds. and this weather system across northern france will be close enough for the south—east and east anglia not only to produce a few heavy showers, but throw over a veil of cloud to stop the morning sunshine. the breeze is coming from the south and west, so it's southern and western counties of the country most likely to see showers for the morning commute.

and around the irish sea coasts, we could see winds close to gale—force. those showers filtering up are parts of west wales, isle of man, into south—west scotland. much of northern ireland, much of north—east scotland start dry with some sunshine, and it's the north—east of scotland most prone to some frost first thing. for most, it's going to be a frost—free week. through the day, showers in the west will push a bit further northwards and eastwards, given the strength of the breeze. but there'll be parts of the midlands, north—east england, northern scotland, northern ireland who will stay completely or almost completely dry throughout the day. temperatures 12—14 degrees. still a little bit higher than it should be for the time of year, and it will be one of the cooler days of the week. now, as we go into monday night and into tuesday, a few more showers will push their way eastwards. the wind switches around in direction to more of a westerly one into the morning, and it will be a cool night. temperatures down into single figures. most will be frost—free thanks to the breeze as we start tuesday. but the key for tuesday is this little bump in the isobars, bump in the pressure pattern, northwards. that's an indication we've got a ridge of high pressure. that puts a cap in the atmosphere and stops some of the showers from building.

there'll be a few around in the west to begin with. one or two may push eastwards, but by and large, most will have a dry day with temperatures similar to those on monday. but the breeze will ease down a little bit. finish the day with cloud increasing in northern ireland and western scotland, a damp night to come, here. and into wednesday, outbreaks of rain across northern western parts of the uk. into wednesday, outbreaks of rain across northern and western parts of the uk, most persistent west of scotland, cumbrian fells, and across gwynedd. further south and east, a dry day with hazy sunshine, but across the board, hazy sunshine or rain. a very mild day for the time of year, and it's across some eastern parts of scotland, north—east england, and eastern northern ireland with temperatures around 16 or 17 degrees. and we stick with the mild theme as we go through into the end of the week. high pressure builds a little bit across continental europe, keeping weather fronts out to the west, keeping things dry, and keeping that southerly airflow. so the warmer air will largely remain with us, but as winds fall lighter later this week, we've got a greater risk of seeing some mist and fog form. bye for now. this is bbc news.

the headlines: the bbc has conducted a major study into the spread of fake news and the reasons behind it. the results will be used to help find solutions. it comes as social media is blamed increasingly for a rise in vigilante attacks. the french president and german chancellor have urged other world leaders to reject nationalism at events to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the first world war. angela merkel said peace could not be taken for granted. the governor of california has urged president trump to declare a major disaster and release more federal resources to fight the state's worst—ever wildfires. at least 31 people are known to have died, and more than 200 others are missing. those are the latest headlines. now on bbc news, hardtalk.