welcome to newsday. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: fake news and the philippines. how social media's being used as a platform to re—write the country's history and confuse its citizens. there are so many bias is when it comes to the government, some people say this is the hero. who really is the one telling the truth. —— biases. the united nations warns of catastrophic consequences for millions, as the war in yemen intensifies. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme: america's vice president arrives in tokyo. north korea and china are expected to top the agenda. and stan lee, the creative mastermind behind marvel comics, dies at the age of 95. live from our studios in singapore and london,

this is bbc world news. it's newsday. hello. it is midnight in london and 8pm in singapore and the philippines, where we continue exploring fake news, where family of the former dictator ferdinand marcos are accused of posting fake news and that social media. the fake news details events that happened under the martial law period in the philippines. this is an archipelago of islands in the north of the philippines, it is one of the most other parts of the country. it even in this secluded

idyll, fake news abounds. this 23—year—old teachers and the islands, she does not have a tv or radio, so uses facebook to catch up with events on the mainland. radio, so uses facebook to catch up with events on the mainlandm radio, so uses facebook to catch up with events on the mainland. it will say this is the hero, so who is the really one telling the truth? to add to the confusion, social media is now being used to revise the country's most contentious history. backin country's most contentious history. back in the 1950s and eighties, ferdinand marcos imposed martial law. as an interview with his father's former defence secretary in which his son denied there were arrests during the martial law you are. “—

arrests during the martial law you are. —— era. arrests during the martial law you are. -- era. iwas electrocuted. this eight—year—old is living proof of the dark side of martial law. in 1976, she was arrested, detained and tortured to being an activist against ferdinand marcos's1—man rule. she is outraged about the claims made. to understand the motives behind his recent statement in the video, i met him at his home in manila. you recently made a video with marcos and you said during martial law that there were no political arrests, do you stand by that? eye at said that because there we re that? eye at said that because there were no arrests. are we living in a post route world where lies can be told and people can get away with that? that has or has been the case, and history, it decades later can

reassess what exactly happened during that period. —— historians. —— has always been. during that period. —— historians. -- has always been. in the past, leaders use divide and rule as a way of subduing their subjects. now in the philippines, it appears fake news is a new the philippines, it appears fake news is a new weapon the philippines, it appears fake news is a new weapon to confuse and control. throughout the week, there will be much more on this. weekend when the conversation the hash tag, beyond fa ke conversation the hash tag, beyond fake news. to go to some of the day's other news. it is 31 people are dead in california's deadliest wildfires in

history. it is all flame that tore through this community, driven by the hot dry winds blow over these hills. now the ferocity of this fire was so intense that many people just had to run for their lives that some decided to stay and fight. they use their garden hose to fight back the flames, they had managed to save some properties. there are some homes here that are safe, others com pletely homes here that are safe, others completely destroyed and will have to be built. a few hundred miles further north around paradise, it is a scene of total destruction there. absolute wipeout and the death toll continues to rise. there has been criticism about the president's first response to this, blaming poor forestry management. people here are saying it is a much bigger issue tied to climate change the drought they have experienced it for months. the president hasjust

they have experienced it for months. the president has just renewed support for the firefighters and local emergency services, but the wind has just picked local emergency services, but the wind hasjust picked up again, meaning that there are thousands more homes at risk. uh—huh also making news today, amnesty international says it is stripping aung san suu kyi of its highest humanitarian on it. amnesty is making the move because of what it called her failure to speak up for the rohingya minority. the israeli military has attacked dozens of targets in gaza, including the television station run by the hamas militant group. more than 300 rockets have been fired from gaza. ten palestinians have been killed,

and israelis have been injured. there was an israeli forces operation was intercepted in gaza. the canadian prime ministerjustin trudeau says that his country's intelligence officers have listen to recordings of the killing of the journalist jamal khashoggi. justin trudeau is the first western leader to confirm his country has listened to confirm his country has listened to the tape of the murder at the saudi consulate in istanbul. tu rkey‘s saudi consulate in istanbul. turkey's president said on saturday that he had given copies to the us, the uk, germany, france, and saudi arabia. thejudge the uk, germany, france, and saudi arabia. the judge in the uk, germany, france, and saudi arabia. thejudge in the united states has asked amazon to hand over audio recordings from one of its echo voice assistance, which was in the house where two women died. the tech giant has refused, saying that it has not been served a legally binding instruction. and a 101—year—old frenchwoman was understandably excited to meet president macron at the weekend, but

there was a slight case of mistaken identity because the woman was convinced that angela merkel was in fa ct convinced that angela merkel was in fact emmanuel macron's wife. angela merkel did try to explain that she was not in fact misses on but the chancellor of germany, it was to no avail. at the meeting, the 101—year—old woman told president macron that she would be at the armistice corrections next year to see him again. and the un is warning of catastrophic consequences for yemen if it support of hodeidah is destroyed. reports suggest more than 100 people have been killed in fighting in recent hours in the city. it is feared many of the victims are civilians, with the fighting taking place in residential neighbourhoods. the rebels are said

to have pushed back the b government troops's offensive. pushing towards the city. coalition troops, led by the saudi and emirati forces, are attempting to take the strategic port of hodeidah, which they claim houthi rebels are using to import arms. for three years, the conflict in yemen has been stuck in a painful stalemate. this offensive, which the coalition has called 0peration golden victory, could change the course of the war, but it comes at a heavy cost. a father in despair. he clutches the lifeless body of his three—year—old daughter. "what do i do now?", he cries. grief has become routine for the people of yemen. this time, a family killed in a coalition air strike as they sheltered in their home.

the un has warned this current offensive could cost up to 250,000 lives. dawn, and the family begins to remove the bodies. the fighting around the city has intensified since the us and uk called for a ceasefire. the houthi rebel leadership say the coalition couldn't maintain this offensive without the support of their main allies in the west. translation: the coalition command room isjoined between the saudis, the americans and the british. britain is directly involved in the aggression against the yemeni people. the british and americans deny they are involved in any targeting in yemen, but over 500,000 people have fled since this offensive started. schools like this are no longer places of learning, they're now homes for dozens of families. children's classrooms now turned

into makeshift bedrooms. they fear the winter months. the people here rely on the charity of others living nearby to survive. this woman has seven children. along with everyone else here, they face violence and hunger. translation: we are victims here, we face the threat of death at any second. it can be a missile or a warplane. we never know if we will make it until tomorrow. we are only alive because of god's mercy. the battle for hodeidah's having a catastrophic effect on an already—dire humanitarian situation. the saudi—led coalition's aim is to strike a strategic, symbolic and financial blow to the houthis, but this advantage comes at a heavy cost and will no doubt leave yemen hungrier, poorer and still at war. this is one of the last functioning hospitals inside hodeidah. children lie weak, fighting hunger.

these pictures were shot three weeks ago. yesterday, the fighting reached the hospital. those who were strong enough fled for safety. for months, aid agencies have been warning that yemen is on the brink of the worst famine in 100 years. every day this offensive continues, that threat looms ever closer. nawal al—maghafi, bbc news, sanaa, yemen. the american vice president, mike pence, has arrived in tokyo on the first leg of his tour of asia and oceania. he's due to meet prime minister shinzo abe later on tuesday, before heading to regional summits in singapore and papua new guinea. so let's cross over live to tokyo, rupert wingfield—hayes joins us now. a whistlestop tour, a quick stop off in tokyo. no doubt north korea and

china's influence in the region will be high on the agenda. yeah, absolutely. there are a lot of big subjects to be discussed both here in tokyo and at the summit in singapore and papua new guinea. the south china sea it, the trade war between the united states and china, the nuclear programme with north korea and negotiations with north korea, but i think the most significant thing about mike pence's is that the here and to those summits is who is not coming, and the fact is a lot of people who would prefer to have seen donald trump come to these meetings and the fa ct trump come to these meetings and the fact that he has sent mike pence instead in his place a think is being seen as a signal here that president trump is not prioritise these meetings and is not prioritising is alive for the very important issue that are going on in this region at the moment. interesting perspective there, but in terms of moving forward with north korea, especially mike pence

doing a lot of work in that situation, what can we hope to hear? well, a think certainly what america's allies in this region, particularly japan is keen america's allies in this region, particularlyjapan is keen to hear, is america's commitment to continuing sanctions against north korea and to a firm commitment to not giving way until north korea gives a real movements, shows real progress towards dismantling its nuclear weapons facilities, and so far, since the singapore summit back in the summer, we have really seen very little movement at all, and i think that has raised concerns here that president trump, in his meeting with kim jong—un, has that president trump, in his meeting with kimjong—un, has not really got the commitment and that north korea is not really serious about disarming and that this process is, it is not a real commitment to north korea that it does want to denuclearise the peninsula. will

watch and wait to see any outcomes for the time being, thank you so much. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: to ban or not to ban — china does a u—turn on the trading of rhino horns and tiger bones. also on the programme: saying farewell to the king of comics — stan lee dies at the age of 95. 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 newsday on the bbc. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. and i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: social media in the philippines is being used as a platform to re—write the country's history and confuse its citizens. we have special coverage. the united nations warns of catastrophic consequences for millions — as the war in yemen intensifies.

let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. starting injapan, where the international edition of the japan times is leading with a story about us president donald trump's absence at several international summits in asia this week. vice president mike pence — who's just arrived in tokyo — has told reporters it wasn't a snub. mr pence will also travel to singapore and papua new guinea. the gulf news business section has this strong headline — "apple shares bleed". they've sank by 5%, dragging down us markets and wiping more than $40bn off apple's market value. and look at this photo on the front page of the new york times.

it's a house swallowed by sand in a fishing village in russia. more than 20 homes have been buried under dunes. now, what stories are sparking discussions online? we spoke earlier about how fake news isa we spoke earlier about how fake news is a huge concern in the philippines with social media at the heart of the issue. and now one online media company has joined forces with facebook to try and tackle the problem. together they are aiming to bonk the false stories we mentioned earlier about revising the events of martial law. for more on this i am joined now by marites vitug, who is the editor at large of the social news network rappler. firstly, we could not focus in on a case that the philippine government cut and have with rappler but tell me how rappler deals with

investigative journalism, how me how rappler deals with investigativejournalism, how does cope with fake news and sort out the real news from the fake? rappler is an active fact checker. even before we partnered with facebook, rappler had already been doing its own checking together with other news organisations. so we get comments, we get alerts from readers and listeners and we also do our own search for hoaxes and what is false. if you go to our website you can find stories which a writer hoaxes, false or misleading. it is an active fa ct false or misleading. it is an active fact checking campaign. it was interesting, we were hearing a report at the start of the programme talking about how widespread are lot of this fake news is and how it is attempting some kind of historical revisionism, trying to change the fa cts revisionism, trying to change the facts of the past. how difficult is

it to weed out fake news like that and how have you teamed up with facebook, and he received a grant from them, to try and do this? facebook, and he received a grant from them, to try and do thi57m facebook, and he received a grant from them, to try and do this? it is like fighting fire. you put out one fire and another one bursts out. so it should be a concerted effort, not just for media organisations like rappler, it should also be seen by society groups, universities and thatis society groups, universities and that is what is slowly happening now in the philippines. it is an environment in which universities need to invite other groups to talk to young students about fake news and how to spot it and to report it to the platforms on where they are found. it is an awareness building and it is heartening to see that facebook has also taken down over

100 pages and accounts and a number of these are real propaganda machines. thank you for coming onto the show and talking to us about the attem pts the show and talking to us about the atte m pts to the show and talking to us about the attempts to try and tackle fake in the philippines. my pleasure. thank you. the man who co—created the universe of marvel comics, stan lee, has died at the age of 95. he dreamed up heroes like spider—man, hulk, the x—men, the fantastic four and iron man, giving them super powers, but also humanity. the bbc‘s lizo mizimba has more. # spider—man, spider—man. .. in comics... # does whatever a spider can... in cartoons... in cinema... stan lee's creations have captivated fans for decades. the charismatic face of marvel known to millions, with the odd exception. he started in publishing in the 1930s, at the company that would eventually evolve into marvel, and where he helped to create the fantastic four, the hulk, ironman, black panther,

the x—men, the avengers, and so many more. i would be writing these stories, along with the artists we'd be working with, and we would all be hoping that somebody would buy the comic books, so that we could keep ourjobs, and pay the rent, and not be thrown out in the streets. but we neverfor a minute could have envisioned anything like what happened to these characters. mr mcgee, don't make me angry. you wouldn't like me when i'm angry. it was inevitable that hollywood would come calling. and stan lee's frequent cameos — a constant on—screen reminder that he was consulted about the direction of the stories, and their often imperfect stars. big man in a suit of armour. take that off, who are you? genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. echoing their comic book origins,

they had frequent conflicts. it'sjust a metaphor, dude. superheroes who fought together as often as they fought each other, and that is the real reason his characters still fill our comic books, and soar across our screens. stan lee, one of entertainment‘s most important ever figures, was a trailblazer. that is hilarious. he was the first comic book writer to understand that the human behind the mask was much more interesting, much more important, than the mask itself. you know, i guess one person can make a difference. a few weeks ago china announced it would be easing its 25—year ban on trading rhino horns and tiger bones, saying that the animal parts could be bought and sold for use in traditional chinese medicine. well, now it's reversed the decision and says the ban will, in fact, stay in place — for now at least. heather sohl is head of the tigers alive initiative at wwf — the world

wide fund for nature. i asked whether she thinks the chinese move is positive. yes. we welcome the news from china that they have postponed the implementation of this regulation which would have allowed the trade in rhino horn and tiger bone, for example in the used by hospitals for traditional chinese medicines and also trade in antiques and any kind of trade opening up like that could have had devastating impact on wild tigers and rhinoceros. given that china just made the decision weeks ago, what is the thinking he western mark we understand that they heard from other governments and from organisations and are taking that into consideration. they have said that they are going to postpone the implementation which is a good signal. a positive sign that china

wa nts to signal. a positive sign that china wants to maintain its leadership in tackling illegal wildlife trade. for example, back in 2017 they close their domestic ivory markets and thatis their domestic ivory markets and that is still going through implementation but we have seen an impact in terms of a reduction in the amount of ivory. in this case they could change their mind again, couldn't they? this is a temporary reversal. we would prefer to see an unequivocal —— unequivocal permanent ban in place. but this is showing that the ban that was put place in 1993, that stopped the trade in rhino horn and in tiger bone is in place still and that is a significant move when we have so few tigers and brian is relatively in the wild, we cannot gamble and risk them facing extinction. our thanks to you for watching. many of us began the new week with

frequent and heavy showers and that brought some in press of cloud formations. an exact —— excellent example here in somerset. we also saw sunshine and when you put sunshine and shower together it is a perfect recipe for rain days. more showers through the early hours of tuesday that will fade away from any southern and eastern areas and generally become confined to northern england and parts of scotland. actually end to the night across the highlands of scotland. through tuesday morning there will still be showers, particularly for western scotland, north—west england and these will fade and foremost a mainly dry day. spells of sunshine in the cloud will build across northern ireland, the western islands of scotland ahead of rain through the evening. a breeze if not windy day. these are average wind strength through the afternoon but still quite gusty, particular for the western coast. in terms of temperature, ten, 1a celsius through tuesday afternoon, still on the mild side. through the evening, the rain

already in the west will slowly start to push eastwards and that is likely to become heavy for a time as parts of northern ireland, north wales, north—west england and western scotland. patchy rain to the midlands but otherwise for central, southern and eastern england it should stay mainly dry was clear spells to temperatures building up to nine or 10 celsius. for all it is a mile night, —— mild night. all tied in with this front which is still with us on wednesday. notice that squeeze in the ice bars so it becomes windy, specifically for the irish sea coast. continuing across northern ireland is the rain clearing through the day and it will continue across western parts of scotland. further east, spells of sunshine with help from the fern effect. eventually that rain will pull away from northern england. much of england and wales stays mainly dry and it is a mild day for all. 13, 16 celsius. 16 celsius we

could find across parts of aberdeenshire. and with this warm airas we go aberdeenshire. and with this warm air as we go through wednesday we pull it up from the south. the front is still fringing northern and western parts of the uk so we could still see a little patchy rain at times but most it becomes dry and there will be spells of sunshine. temperature is above average for this time of year, 1a, 15 celsius but bear in mind towards the end of the week where it looks settled we could see mist and fault and that could see mist and fault and that could be slow to clear. it will change the weekend to mainly dry mild, light wind, still clearing with some mist and fog. i'm kasia madera with bbc news. as part of the bbc‘s week—long series on fake news, we've been looking at the philippines. a special report shows how fake news on social media is being used as a platform to re—write the country's history and confuse its citizens. the un is warning of catastrophic consequences for yemen if its port hudaydah is destroyed.

reports suggest more than a 100 people have been killed in the past 2a hours, with much of the fighting taking place in residential neighbourhoods. and this sad news is being read on bbc.com. stan lee — the co—creator of spider man, the hulk, iron man and the x—men — has died in los angeles. he was 95. he was one of the key creators responsible for the success of marvel comics.