welcome to newsday on the bbc. i'm mariko oi in singapore. our headlines: president trump agrees to shutdown his personal charity after the new york attorney general accuses it of a "shocking pattern of illegality". jose mourinho‘s out, but who's in? manchester united seek their fifth manager in five years. we're not going to win the title. we'll be lucky if we get in the top 4 now, so let's just forget this season. i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: the gender gap: a new report says it could be another two centuries before women earn the same as men and have equaljob opportunities. and into the arctic — a special report on china's ambitions to finance greenland's future. the tiny population of this vast, empty country is not going to know what's hit it. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news.

it's newsday. good morning. it's 9am her in singapore, 1am in london, and 8pm in new york, where president trump's personal charity has agreed to close amid claims that mr trump, and others, used it to further political and business interests. last month, a court decision allowed a lawsuit against the trump foundation to go ahead on the grounds of illegal conduct. mr trump denies the allegations. our north america editorjon sopel reports from washington. chanting: usa, usa, usa! election night 2016 and donald trump is soaking up the applause surrounded by his children. but they're also part of the business and also trustees of his charity, the donald j trump foundation. but far from this being a vehicle for giving and philanthropy, the new york attorney general has described, in the most scathing terms,

how the trumps were using this for their own purposes. trump's attorney said those accusations were inaccurate and politicised. and here in washington, the president's former national security adviser, michael flynn, has been appearing in court over conversations he had with the russian ambassador at around the time of the election. he lied to the fbi about it. the sentencing should have been routine — it was anything but. michael flynn arrived in court this morning, hoping that he'd be given an non—custodial sentence, but the judge very quickly made clear he took flynn's offences far more seriously. thejudge also mused

whether flynn should have been charged with treason. in light of this, his lawyers argued for sentencing to be delayed. the threat of incarceration has not gone away. i mean, god help us! ironic, really, as the general was the man during the election who led the chants of "lock her up" about donald trump's rival, hillary clinton. yep, that's right, lock her up! but despite lying to the fbi and the vice president, and pleading guilty, the president is standing by him. tweeting this morning... a theme picked up at the briefing, with the white house accusing the fbi of behaving improperly over this. the fbi broke standard protocol in the way that they came in and ambushed general flynn and in the way that they questioned him, and in the way that they encouraged him not to have white house counsel's office present.

lock him up! as micahel flynn left court to some chants of "lock him up", the white house was doing nothing to dispel the impression that, in this case, the president was more on the side of the man who had broken the law than the people who are charged with enforcing it. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. our other top stories for you: here in the uk, the cabinet has agreed to step up plans for a possible no—deal brexit. $2.5 billion is being allocated to government departments to help them prepare. in addition, britain's defence secretary says 3500 troops are to be put on standby to deal with potential disruption. our europe editor katya adler has the view from brussels. you will have heard about this idea of a managed no—deal brexit, so watch out tomorrow for plans by the european commission to maintain the status quo in certain key areas in case of a no—deal brexit, so like transport, for example,

to make sure that planes can and land between the eu and the uk, also the movement of finance, but brussels will be keen to find out that this is not in the uk's favour, it's to protect them from the more catastrophic consequences of the uk crashing out of the eu without a deal. these mini deals, if you like, will be strictly time—limited to a few months, and they'll be ended without any consultation with the united kingdom. also making news: japan has announced new defence spending over five years on aircraft carriers, advanced stealth fighters and long—range missiles. the government says it's needed to combat the growing threat from china. officials insist the plans are allowed underjapan‘s pacifist constitution, which limits the country's military to defence. the highest—ranking health official in the us has issued a rare warning over the use of e—cigarettes. surgeon generaljerome adams says the threat to young people is particularly dangerous. one in five high school students currently uses e—cigarettes in the us — that's a 78% increase on last year.

four blasts have been reported in yemen's main port city of hodeidah, on the first day of a ceasefire between houthi rebels and the saudi—backed government. the port is vital for food and aid supplies to yemen. it's not yet clear which side was responsible for the blasts. you are looking at a design by the italian architect, renzo piano, who will oversee the construction of a new motorway bridge in genoa to replace one that collapsed and killed 43 people in august. the new project will cost around $230 million and should be complete within a year. now, this is the scene during a ferry crossing between northern ireland and scotland. a very stormy one.

0ne witness described it as a "big dip" in rough seas. no—one was badly injured, but several people were trapped in their cars. now to some disturbing findings — women must wait 202 years before they can earn the same as men and have equaljob opportunities. that's according to the latest gender gap report from the world economic forum. it says the rise in robots and the lack of childcare are keeping many women out of work. the report ranks 149 countries based on four categories: economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational achievement, and health and survival. iceland, norway, sweden and finland are ranked as the top four countries, making the most progress. the philippines is also up there at number eight. but lagging much further behind are singapore at 67, china at 103, andjapan at 110. anna—karin jatfors is the deputy regional director

for asia pacific for un women. i asked her why it would take more than 200 years for women to achieve pay equality. clearly, i think we can all agree that 200 years is too long to have gender equality, but we can see progress around the asia—pacific and parts of the world has been far too slow and very uneven, and it is an irony perhaps that in our region many countries have benefited from higher levels of economic growth, but the benefits of that growth have not been equally shared between women and men, and across the region we are seeing very high wage gaps between women and men, and that really is across the employment spectrum. some reasons for that are due to the segmentation of the labour markets. so women tend to be stuck in sectors, in the care economy, in manufacturing, and agriculture,

which are traditionally lower wage, and they are less likely working because still, the unpaid care work to care for elderly and children rests still very much with women, so they drop out of the market to take care of family members. and even when they are working, they are stuck at the bottom end of the chain with the most insecure jobs, often informal employment, and without access to critical benefits like pensions and parental leave and so on. what's very interesting in this report is that economic growth on its own has not been enough. that we're seeing these challenges in developed as well as developing countries. what do you think the philippines is doing so well, ranking at eighth, compared to countries like singapore, china and japan? so what we're seeing is, we've had good practices across the region. for example, as the philippines has done, to extend social protection

to domestic workers, for example. women in the informal economy. that's very important. but we also have good practices in other countries, expanding access to affordable childcare, having parental leave policies, not just for women but for women and for men, to allow women to combine their career aspirations with their professional aspirations. so, these are some of the things that countries have done that have been very effective. of course, companies themselves have a really important role to play as well by creating workplace practices, creating workplace environments that are conducive to women and men, having recruitment policies, promotion policies, committing to equal pay, and transparently monitoring progress on that. so it's notjust governments, but we see also the private sector having a very important part in allowing women and men to effectively combine work and career aspirations. after an awful start to the season

and defeat to arch rivals liverpool, jose mourinho has been sacked as manager of manchester united. the red devils look set to appoint a caretaker manager until the end of the season, with a permanent replacement after that. 0ur sports editor dan roan has more. driven out. jose mourinho leaving town this afternoon, just hours after learning he'd been sacked as manchester united manager — the end of a turbulent reign. his fate had been sealed 48 hours earlier. united's woeful defeat to arch rivals liverpool marked a new low, this their worst start to a league season for 28 years. and with the club's hierarchy watching on, patience had run out. you can't just pin the blame on one person. yes, the manager takes the rap, and the manager has been sacked and he's lost his job for that

because ultimately, he's the one that has to get the best out of the players. quite clearly, that has not been the case. but when you go back to the summer, he wanted to be backed and bring other players into the football club, and for whatever reason, he wasn't. with a salary of around £80 million a year, mourinho spent £400 million on 11 players. but with such an investment, the club finds itself 19 points behind the league leaders. once you start criticising players in public, then it starts to go pear shaped. it'sjust dire, isn't it? there's no attacking, there's no desire. he looks as miserable as sin. so where did it all go wrong? despite winning two trophies in his first season, mourinho never adhered to the club's attacking traditions, and over the summer, tensions rose. he was unhappy at a lack of transfers and clashed with star players, especially record signing paul pogba. and after a poor start to the season, the strain began to show.

i have won more premierships alone than the other 19 managers together. three for me, and two for them. respect, respect. respect. the glory years of the sir alex ferguson era feel a long time ago now, as united begin the search for a fourth manager in five years after the previous failures of david moyes and louis van gaal. today, the favourite to take over next summer was giving little away. it's not my business what happens in another club. i only — i want to send my best wishes to jose. mourinho was football's special one, enjoying succes at the world's biggest clubs. but with him, things often turned sour, and having been sacked by both chelsea and now united, the sense is the game may have moved on without him. dan roan, bbc news. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: opening up greenland — why china is bidding to finance development in the mineral rich territory. also on the programme: qatar's plans for the

world cup take shape, but questions remain over claims of corruption and worker welfare. 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 bosnia, serbia 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 mariko 0i in singapore. i'm babita sharma in london. our top stories: president trump agrees to shut down his personal charity after the new york attorney general accuses it of a "shocking pattern of illegality". manchester united sacks its manager, jose mourinho, after a string of terrible results. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. it's qatar's national day, a chance to celebrate and look to the future. this gas—rich state is preparing to create an even bigger bang, though, in four years‘ time, when it gets to host football's biggest tournament. world cup plans, though, are now springing off the drawing board and into life.

it's an opportunity for people to experience us, experience the agriculture, the richness and the rich heritage and culture we have to offer. that's what the world cup offers you. it's nothing but sand at the moment, but in four years‘ time, this will be lush, green grass, because it's here where the world cup opening game and final will be staged. and it's in a stadium that is rising up out of the desert. it's part of a tournament that organisers hope will change expectations on how and where a major sporting event can be played. qatar has been criticised in recent years over labour standards for workers building its world cup infrastructure. human rights groups have cautiously welcomed recent reforms, but issues remain. some of the workers are making $175, £140, a month. is that morally defensible? no doubt that there is room for improvement in that element. the fact is that there was no minimum wage established previously.

now we're talking about implementing and applying minimum wage. so i have no doubt that progress on worker welfare reform will continue. it will progress. it's not a journey that's going to end. qatar has never featured at a world cup, with many questioning its right to now stage such a prestigious event. have you seen a big difference in the way that people watch football or the way the qatari people love football? a0 years since china set out on a path to open up its economy, beijing continues to look for new opportunities to expand and invest overseas. that includes the arctic. greenland, a danish territory to the east of canada, is seen as a key staging post on a trading route linking china to europe and north america. but concerns have been raised about beijing getting a foothold in this strategically important region. the chinese are coming. they're getting icebreakers ready to open new polar trade routes. there are minerals to be extracted,

and huge scope for development. china's demanding a say in the whole future of the arctic, though it insists that its interest is entirely peaceful. greenland's the ideal place to start. it's empty, a bit neglected, and it's got a chip on its shoulder where its distant colonial masters, the danes, are concerned. now, though, everything is about to change. this tiny airport is going to disappear. so are two others like it in greenland. the company in charge of turning all three into big international airports is fired up about it. we're doing these three airports, and each of them are the biggest construction project ever done in greenland to this date, so it's huge for us here.

and it's going to be very important for the infrastructure in greenland in the future. china is among those bidding for the contract. you've really got to be here to get any idea of how enormous greenland is. it's the 12th largest country on earth, and yet the population is tiny. it's less than 60,000, the size of a small town in western europe. greenland is mineral—rich and cash—poor, and there are an awful lot of people here who would be only too glad if the chinese moved in in large numbers. it gets dark by three o'clock, but in nuuk, the capital, people are selling things. they have second—hand clothes, cakes they've made, anything to get a bit of cash. there's real poverty here. several inuits, indigenous people, are trying to sell king eider ducks they've caught. next morning in the freezing cold,

a couple of the inuit are going out to hunt some more king eiders. their friend was enthusiastic about the idea that the chinese might move in here in force. i think it's good for greenland if the chinese can build and greenland can grow. it's good. good for everybody? yeah, i think. attitudes to chinese involvement are divided on ethnic lines. the majority, inuits, are mostly keen. the minority of danish descent tend not to be. the man who delivers water to the outlying communities was worried. for me, i don't like it, because they want to take it all and leave greenland with nothing. i think the greenlandic should do it by themselves. the greenlandic government wants eventual independence from denmark.

the prime minister and foreign minister wouldn't be interviewed about china's involvement here, but a previous prime minister was prepared to talk. we will be living in 2019 soon, and the world has changed. what greenland needs urgently is investment from the outside, and you don't really see investment from the us or europe. so you would be happy to see china putting money into greenland in a big way, would you? yes. denmark doesn't agree. just recently, the danish prime minister lars rasmussen came here on an attention—grabbing visit. both denmark and the united states are seriously worried that the chinese might get a strategic bridgehead here. mr rasmussen visited the american

missile detection base at thule to show his support. his party's foreign affairs spokesman explained their nervousness. china is actually a communist dictatorship. therefore, we should be very worried about, you know, how they should evolve around the world. i don't like to have them in our own backyard, because i would be worried, also from a security perspective. the trouble is, the americans and the danes have long taken greenland for granted, and neither of them have spent too much money on it. now that china's showing an interest, though, things are suddenly about to change. in just over four years‘ time, there will be three big new international airports operating here, bringing in investors and workers and tourists. the tiny population of this vast, empty country isn‘t going to know what‘s hit it. john simpson, bbc news, greenland. you have been watching newsday.

i‘m babita sharma in london. and i‘m mariko 0i in singapore. stay with us. hello. after tuesday‘s rain most of us will get to see some sunshine in the day ahead. but there will be showers around too. as we take a look at the big picture, this is tuesday‘s weather front that has now moved out to the east. this weather front approaching from the west will pep up the showers across western parts later in the day. a cooler start to the day for wednesday. there may be a touch of frost, sheltered glens in scotland. some of us are in low single figures. early showers towards south—east

england and east anglia. the bulk of these will fade going into the afternoon. showers scattered about through western parts, heavy ones, maybe a rumble of thunder. gusty winds as well. not as windy as it was on tuesday. the showers get heavier and more widespread late in the day. it‘s not a cold wind direction, but temperatures are down compared with tuesday‘s readings. some of us will sink down into single figures. it‘s not as windy. there will be a bit of sunshine around. for a time going into the evening, the first part of the night, some of these showers will work eastwards across the uk, and again, some heavy ones around. for the second half of wednesday night they are mostly around southern and western coastal areas. quite breezy out there. still some temperatures heading down towards low single figures. for most of us we are a good few degrees above freezing as thursday begins. the big picture again for thursday, you‘ll notice low pressure to the north—west of the british isles. areas closest to that most likely to see further showers on thursday. that‘s across scotland, northern ireland, north—west

england, north and west wales, some pushing further eastwards on it through the day. it is still quite breezy out there. for large parts of the midlands, southern england, and some towards the north—east of scotland it will be largely dry there will be the best of the available sunny spells. temperatures are fairly close to average but still on the mild side the further south you are. that is out thursday is shaping up. going into friday, an area of rain moving northwards with sunshine following on behind. it may hang around parts of northern ireland, southern scotland, and northern england. the far north of scotland may stay dry with just the odd shower around. quite strong winds behind and with that weather system, mild air following as well. mild aero in scotland. fog to start the day. temperatures are fairly close to average but on the mild side

the further south you are. that is how thursday is shaping up. the last weekend before christmas is still looking mild. i‘m babita sharma with bbc world news. our top story: donald trump‘s charity foundation is closing down — facing allegations that funds were illegally misused. new york‘s attorney general accused the trump foundation of engaging in "a shocking pattern of illegality". the charity‘s lawyer described the attorney general‘s statement as "misleading". and a judge has fiercely criticised president trump‘s former national security adviser, michael flynn, for lying to fbi agents. the horse to the sentencing fauna dashmac thejudge also the horse to the sentencing fauna dashmac the judge also delayed sentencing to amal him at 2 cooperate more fully. they

—— to allow him to. and this story is attracting huge interest across the world. jose mourinho has been sacked as manager of manchester united, after the club made its worst start to a season in 28 years. he‘s faced a barrage of criticism over his signings and the team‘s