hello, you're watching newsday. i'm babita sharma in london. the headlines: what next for brexit? theresa may prepares to unveil her latest proposals to parliament — but the divisions remain. what we are now getting are some of those who were always absolutely opposed to the result of the referendum trying to hijack brexit and steal the result from the people. china's growing military might. we examine the us report that warns of a high—tech future. and i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. also in the programme: pressure on the palace over the duke of edinburgh's car crash — police speak to the prince after he's seen driving without a seatbelt. and the stargazing treat that's set to dazzle the night sky. we'll have the latest on a rare lunar event. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news.

it's newsday. hello. it's 8am in singapore and midnight here in london where another week of brexit debate beckons. prime minister theresa may will make a statement in parliament on monday setting out an alternative brexit plan — after mps rejected her preferred deal last week. a cross party group of mps are bidding to take control of brexit away from the government in order to stop a ‘no deal‘ exit from the eu. our political correspondent alex forsyth has the latest. so, the noes have it, the noes have it. it's been five days since theresa may's brexit plan was thrown out, rejected by mps. and while she's working out her next steps, some on the backbenches have plans of their own. some want to change parliament's rules, its standing orders, so mps could delay the brexit process to stop a no deal scenario. all are very concerned about the way

in which the brexit debate is unfolding and extremely concerned that we are in danger of crashing out of the eu with no deal and it's probably right to say that what brings us all together is that we think it's such a disaster for this country that something is going to have to be done to try to ensure that that's stopped. it could change the way this place works — giving backbench mps, not ministers, more power to dictate what comes before parliament, shaping policy. some in government claim that's extremely concerning. what we are now getting are some of those who are always absolutely opposed to the result of the referendum trying to hijack brexit and in fact steal the result from the people. the bottom line is parliament is gridlocked. while some mps want a pause in the process, others want to get on and leave, deal or not. some want a total rethink or another public vote and some believe the prime minister's deal, with some changes, can be salvaged.

one option being floated — attempting to change the controversial plan to avoid a hard irish border to try to bring mps round. we actually agree that, no matter what, there should be an agreement that ensures there's no hard border between the united kingdom and ireland. the question is, "can we achieve what the irish government wants and what we want by a different mechanism?" but there's no detail of an alternative and the irish foreign minister isn't convinced, tweeting the irish government's commitment to the current withdrawal agreement — the existing plan — is absolute. labour says theresa may now has to fundamentally shift her position. if the prime minister won't move her red lines, you can see what's going to happen, which is parliament is going to try and take control of the process. that is because people are frustrated with the prime minister. this is only happening because of that and i think, in the next week or two, other options will now be tested one way or another. so expect further turbulent scenes

here in the next few days. the battle now isn'tjust over what should happen with brexit but who gets to control it. and we will bring you the latest on may's brexit new plans live here on bbc world news throughout the day. our other top stories this hour: democrats in the us congress have rejected president trump's compromise plan on immigration an attempt to end the partial shutdown of the us government. it's now affected 800,000 government workers for weeks, making it the longest in american history. our correspondent in washington, david willis, is following developments. the president is under pressure from all sides at the moment. the conservative commentator and calder is accusing him of effectively offering an amnesty to hundreds of thousands of people who are in this country illegally. she tweeted,

rather damningly, we voted ford from and we gotjeb bush. that is a reference to the moderate candidates defeated by donald trump for the nomination. added to that, pressure from the democrats who say that his new package of proposals is a nonsta rter new package of proposals is a nonstarter and they refused to discuss border security until he reopens government. and then there is pressure from the american people because opinion polls show more of them blame mr trump and his party for the current shutdown than blame the democrats. also making news today, there have been protests in russia, ahead of a visit by the japanese prime minister shinzo abe. mr abe swore on his father's grave this month that he would recover four islands japan lost to the soviet union at the end of the second world war. protesters oppose handing over any part of the kuril islands, which are known injapan as the northern territories. one of india's most senior politicians has been released

china is due to publish its economic growth figures on monday and they'll be even more closely watched than usual. some independent economists expect the slowest growth in china in 28 years in 2018 — at around 5%, or even lower. the drop — from 6.5% in 2017 — has been blamed on weakening domestic demand and us trade tariffs. and some sad news from japan — where the world's oldest man has died aged 113. masazo nonaka was recognised by guinness world records as the oldest living man in the world last year. he was born injuly 1905, years before the first world war began. he revealed the secret to his long life was eating sweets and taking hot baths. we're getting reports from the israeli military that it's

currently striking iranian quds targets inside syria, and warned syrian forces not to attack israeli territory or forces. the military gave no further details. senior officials from the united states and north korea have started talks in sweden, to prepare for a second summit between the leaders of the two countries next month. no venue has been officially announced for the new summit, although speculation is mounting it could be held in vietnam. kim yong—chol, the right hand man of kimjong—un has arrived in beijing after meeting with president trump in washington. mr trump said he had "an incredible" meeting with mr kim and the two sides had made, as he put it, "a lot of progress" on denuclearisation. so where could the next summit be held? 0ur correspondent laura bicker gave us this update from seoul.

i think when it comes to vietnam it is looking more and more likely. perhaps hanoi perhaps delaying we will have to wait and see. when it comes to the swedish talks, they are looking meaningful. the south korean nuclear envoy is also in sweden which means it is north korea, south korea and the united states all around the one table being led by, we understand, some swedish officials. it does look like those talks are meaningful and could lay the groundwork for discussions in that summer. 50 the groundwork for discussions in that summer. so let's be clear. no official confirmation of a second summitjusta official confirmation of a second summit just a lot official confirmation of a second summitjust a lot of speculation about where it may be? when it comes to the second summit, donald trump has said it will happen at the end of february so we can be sure there will be a meeting. when it comes to the location, well, vietnam is emerging as a front runner. there have been several reports from bloomberg and our colleagues in

reuters who say that there will be a state visit by kim jong—un to vietnam. as for the agenda, we know denuclearisation is on the agenda but it comes down to the details of any deal. what does the united states wa nt any deal. what does the united states want from north korea? exactly what is north korea prepared to do? when it comes to, for example, the korean site where they have to the north koreans have offered to fiof the north koreans have offered to fl of that site the us gives get rid of that site the us gives them something in return. this is detail they will be looking for the detail they will be looking for ina the detail they will be looking for in a second deal. we were talking about this at length at the singapore summit saying that we were short on detail. we havejust singapore summit saying that we were short on detail. we have just ain't showing viewers pictures of that meeting. the devil is always in the detail. we hear that donald trump and his rhetoric saying there has

been a lot of progress on talks with kim yong—chol but we do not really know what he means, do we? no, we don't. and when it comes to the progress made i think a lot of that will be nailed down in sweden. if you look at who was around the table, the south korean nuclear envoy and mr li, he took part in the last talks so he is very experienced. the north korean delegate is also experienced. are a number of experienced people around that table. will be a lot of bargaining going on and it will all depend on what north korea and the united states are willing to accept from each other and what steps they will make towards each other. up to three million people are expected to vote in a referendum in the southern philippines which is getting underway on monday. they're being asked approve a new muslim autonomous region in the volatile area of mindanao. after after years of conflict the outcome could give closure to a peace deal signed between

the moro islamic liberation front and the philippine government. let's speak to the bbc‘s howard johnson, who's in manila. could you explain this referendum in a little more detail to us and why is it significant? this has been going on for decades, this armed conflict between the philippine army and the moro islamic liberation front. it went all the way back to the 1960s. even colonel gaddafi, he intervened to try and bring peace. successive governments here in the philippines failed to do that. thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced, but president it are today made it a campaign promise and need broad about the referendum. what we see today are people coming out to vote for what is ultimately an autonomous

region and. right its and right its own and right its own fiscal i and - right its own fiscal rules, - right its own fiscal rules, to| right its own fiscal rules, to govern through a cultural. the tourism and cultural activities. the people would like to own their in this part cultutemfl‘sgetcfthé ' ' it is one of philippines. it is ens. sf the ~ .,. ~ , ~ ‘ the there are many illiterate people tmfi'rfi'ffifi rig innerategeogg. millions