i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore, the headlines... the founder of huawei hits back. in an exclusive interivew, ren zhengfei says the us actions against his company and his daughter are politically motivated. there is no way the us can crash us. there is no way the us can crash us. the east will still shine and if the north goes dark, there is still the south. more violence breaks out in indian—administered kashmir. officials say a gunfight has left nine people dead. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme... british teenager shamima begum tells the bbc it was her choice to join the islamic state group — as she asks the uk for forgiveness. car—maker, honda, is to announce the closure of its only plant in britain, with thousands ofjobs to be lost. live from our studios in singapore

and london... this is bbc world news. it is newsday. good morning. it's 9am in singapore, 1 am in london and 9 am in shenzen, where the founder of chinese telecoms giant huawei has told the bbc that washington's attempts to ban its participation in the wests sg networks won t crush the company. he added that the arrest of his daughter, the company s cfo meng wanzhou on the request of the united states is a politically motivated act . our asia business correspondent karishma vaswani has been speaking exclusively to huawei s founder ren zhengfei. you know, he has been described as reclusive and secretive, this is the city where his company has grown up

and he started it around 30 years ago, and you can hear the busyness and chaos of the streets getting started here, early rush—hour engines then. at the man i met was anything but secretive or reclusive and he portrayed a great deal of confidence especially in the face of all of this pressure from the united states. i would go so far as saying he was extremely defiant and his message to the world was best, huawei will not be crushed by the us attem pts huawei will not be crushed by the us atte m pts to huawei will not be crushed by the us attempts to keep this company down. listen to what he said to me and an exclusive interview i had with him. this is the man the us says is helping china spy on the world. ren zhengfei, a former engineer in the chinese military, started huawei 30 years ago with just three people. he has built a global telecoms giant, bigger than apple, nokia and ericsson, with some of the fastest sg technology in the world. but now his life's work is under attack and his daughter's freedom

hangs in the balance. the us says huawei's equipment could be used by china to spy on other countries, but in an exclusive interview with me, the company's 74—year—old founder says that would never happen. translation: we will never undertake any spying activities and we will never accept anyone‘s instructions to install a back door. if we take any such actions, then i will shut the company down. what kind of impact would it have on your business if the us is successful in getting many of its partners in the west to shut your equipment off? translation: there is no way the us can crush us. the east will still shine and if the north goes dark, and then there is still the south. america doesn't represent the world, america only represents a portion of the world. but the us is putting

pressure on huawei. it has slapped multiple charges on the company and at washington's request canada has arrested mr ren‘s daughter, also the company's chief financial officer. translation: i object to what the us has done. this kind of politically motivated act is not acceptable. the us likes to sanction others whenever there is an issue, they will use such methods. we object to this. still, questions about huawei's independence from the chinese communist party have been raised. in the last several years the chinese communist party has been a lot more coercive and this really crystallises worries that companies like huawei will be forced to help them conduct espionage. chinese companies have only started threatening the dominance of western businesses over the last decade. as they have come up,

the world has had to grapple with the different system they operate in. central to this is the fear that these companies are obliged to serve the interests of the chinese communist party. whether they do or not may be beside the point, the perception in itself could determine their success in the future. watching your interview, he seemed unfazed that the us as well as some of its allies like australia and new zealand are seeking to ban huawei and adds five g network, so tell us and adds five g network, so tell us a little bit of how damaging this is to the company? well, as you have heard, he believes that it will not be damaging. i think the key point and all of this is the fact that the reputation of huawei has been relatively damaged and hurt, considerably and fact, by the

allegations that the us has put against the company. notjust to deal with the fact that it's the equipment could be used by china to spy equipment could be used by china to spy which huawei then adamantly denies but also the charges we have seen the united states department of justice leveled against huawei like intellectual property theft, conspiracy to commit fraud. all these ages are really starting to create a murky atmosphere around the company. but he was defined in the face of all of that when i picked him and the fact that the us doj has leveled those charges of stealing technology from american companies, he said outright why do i need to steal from he said outright why do i need to stealfrom american he said outright why do i need to steal from american companies when my own technology is so much better. this is not a man who is afraid of what is to come, in fact he is extremely confident and i think that is the message i was trying to send out today. —— he was sending out today. we should note this is the

first exclusive interview he has given to the western media and you had a chance to sit down and spend time with the man. what did he seem like, did he seem sincere?” time with the man. what did he seem like, did he seem sincere? i think it would be fair to say that he was sincere, he was very humourous and jovial, and at the very beginning of the interview, he said that he was going to crackjokes and said i am going to crackjokes and said i am going to crackjokes and said i am going to be quite humourous. conversations i hope you can appreciate that. but certainly a real steely nest there as well. that is something i sensed. i think he feels personally insulted that the company he has built over the last 30 years, coming up from here, to the biggest telecoms equipment maker in the world, selling more phones than apple, i think he feels the us is targeting this company and wants to tell the world that huawei is open for business and nothing has changed. she has written an

extensive article there on our website and describes huawei's founder as confidential worth checking out on bbc dot—coms. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. donald trump has called for the venezuelan military to support the opposition leader juan guaido. he warned them they're risking their future and their lives by backing president maduro. today, i have a message for every official who is helping to keep maduro in place. the eyes of the entire world are upon you. today, every day, and every day in the future. you cannot hide from the choice that now confronts you. meanwhile in venezuela, the state internet provider has blocked a webpage where volunteers have been signing up to help bring humanitarian aid into the country. it's currently stockpiled over the colombian border. the opposition leader, juan guaido, says he wants a million people to register to distribute the supplies on saturday. president nicolas maduro has ordered the military to prevent the aid

from entering venezuela because he says it is a coverup for a us invasion. a summit of central european leaders in israel has been cancelled because of a row between israel and poland over the holocaust. poland withdrew after being angered by comments from israeli leaders suggesting a polish complicity in the holocaust. scientists say the genome of the great white shark may provide information that could prove useful to fight cancer and age—related diseases, and improve treatments to heal wounds in humans. sharks are known for their impressive ability to recoverfrom injuries. researchers say they've just explored the "tip of the iceberg" with respect to the white shark genome. you've probably seen this image before. it's arguably one the most iconic photographs of the 20th century. some sad news actually.

the american sailor captured kissing a stranger in new york's times square to celebrate the end of the second world war has died. george mendonsa was ninety—five. the photo was taken in august 1945 by alfred eisenstadt for life magazine. greta friedman the nurse being kissed, died in 2016 at sthe age of ninety two. there's been fresh violence in indian—administered kashmir as tensions rise over last week's suicide bombing that killed more than a0 indian pa ra—milita ry police. officials say nine people, including four indian soldiers and a policeman, have been killed during a gun battle on monday. the pakistan—based militant group, jaish e mohammed, has said it carried out the bombing. sangita myska reports from delhi. security police sealed off a village in the district of pulwama. security forces say they fired warning shots in the air. militants immediately returned fire. hours of fierce fighting followed,

leaving several data including soldiers and militants, some of indian police state where behind last week's terror attack. —— several dead. the aftermath of that attack was caught on camera. this was all that was left of the bus, part of a huge military convoy transporting over 2,000 troops. it was blown up by a suicide bomber, a new generation of kashmiris radicalised in a region where the majority of the population is muslim. the islamist militant groupjaish e mohammed has claimed responsibility. based in pakistan, it has been fighting for kashmir‘s independents for nearly 20 years. pakistan's prime minister has the denied the accusations that his country has had a direct hand in last week's attack. pakistan recalled its ambassador from delhi to discuss rising tensions between the two countries. kashmir has been a source of conflict between the two countries since 1947. the nuclear neighbours have fought three wars over it. so far indian‘s primary response

in dealing with pakistan has to try to have it isolated diplomatically, and to that end it has been widely reported here that indian officials have compiled a dossier that they say proves that pakistani government has been directly financing the organisation responsible for last thursday's attack. in the meantime, the government has yet to announce whether it will go one step further and order military action. in a political bombshell here in britain, seven parliamentarians from the opposition labour party have resigned over differences with the leadership on brexit and a row over anti—semitism. they will sit in parliament as a group of independent mps. it's described as an extraordinary moment in british politics, with mps in both the main parties unhappy with their leadership and the country's current politics. our political correspondent, ben wright, has this

assessment from westminster. politics as we know it is just unraveling at the moment and it has been tumultuous, chaotic and no one knows really where we are going. it has been clear for a long time that there are many labour mps very angry about jeremy corbyn‘s leadership of the labour party, he is on the far left, a great fan of tony ben and had been on the extreme left of the labour party, sidelined and nobody paying much attention for the last 20 years and now he is in charge and the large moderate block in parliament, labour mps have been there a long time and very uncomfortable about this and his approach to brexit. that is particular anger about how he has handled anti—semitism crisis that has gripped the labour party, evidence that some labour activists certainly online have been anti—semitic and abusing labour mps and there is disquiet about that. that has boiled over and several labour mps have said they cannot

take it any more and are throwing in the towel and will set in the house of commons as independents and you asked whether this will snowball into a much bigger and are other labour mps going to follow suit and swell the ranks at this new group that they do not yet have a name, and are not a party yet or have a manifesto or platform but they know that they do not want to followjeremy corbyn or will this peter out? it is hard to say at the moment. my hunch is if it will grow, it will grow slowly and i do not think we are about to see a dramatic breaking of the dam. just very briefly if you would, we hurried to conservative mps could potentiallyjoin this group and any more on that? —— we have heard about two conservative mps could potentially join this group. they want to be a cross party movement and bbc spoke to two tory mps were thinking aboutjoining and we do not think that is eminent but that is what they want to happen, either mps joining this group.

—— other mps joining this —— other mstoining this group. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... a young british woman who ran away tojoin is in syria speaks to the bbc about returning to the uk. she says the decision to be a part of is was her choice. also on the programme... we'll tell you about the budding businessman from ghana who is trying to save the environment, and make some money at the same time. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops are finally coming home. the withdrawal completed in good order, but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm was murdered. that has a terrible effect for the morality of the people. it's terrible for the repercussions on the streets. one wonders who is next? as the airlift got under way,

there was no let up in the eruption itself. lava streams from a vent low the crater flowed down to the sea on the east of the island, away from the town for the time being. but it could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded their new generation space station with a spectacular night launch. they've called it mir, the russian for "peace". welcome back and thank you for staying with us here on newsday. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories... run zhengfei, the founder of chinese telecoms giant huawei, has told the bbc that the arrest of his daughter, the company s, cfo on the request of the united states,

is a ‘politically motivated act'. japanese car maker — honda — is expected to announce the closure of its plant in the uk — three—and—a—half thousand jobs could be lost. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the japan times looks at the claim that japanese prime minister shinzo abe nominated president donald trump for this year's nobel peace prize. mr abe didn't deny the claim — but he did praise the us president's efforts to defuse the north korea nuclear crisis. the financial times leads on the closure of honda's uk plant. the move, which comesjust over a month ahead of brexit, could see the loss of about 3,500 jobs. and the south china morning post looks at what beijing hopes to be china's answer to silicon valley. a document unveiled on monday outlines plans to turn hong kong and 10 neighbouring cities into an economic hub. that brings you up—to—date with some

of the papers. shamima begum, the teenager who left the uk to join the islamic state group when she was 15, has told the bbc, she never intended to become a ‘poster girl‘ for the terrorist organisation. now 19, and with a two day old baby, she says she wants the uk's forgiveness and to be able to return. she's been speaking to our middle east correspondent, quentin somerville. underneath her black dress, she cradles her two—day—old son. only four years have passed since she left britain, but that's a lifetime in the islamic state group. she was with them to the very last moment but now she wants forgiveness. myself, i will admit that i was the one who made the choice. even though i was 15 years old and did not have... i do have...

i could make my own decisions. i do have the mentality to make my own decisions and i did leave on my own, knowing that it was a risk but... i will admit it is my fault right now. ijust want... i just want forgiveness really from the uk. like everything i have been through, i did not expect i will go through that and losing my children the way i lost an. i do not want to lose this baby as well and this is not really a place to raise children, this camp. may be temporarily but not permanently. if the islamic state had not fallen and had not been defeated, would you have stayed? no, i would have left. she was brought to this camp in northern syria after she and her husband surrendered to kurdish forces. she says she no longer supports is but still knows its propaganda.

so, here's your opportunity, then, to apologise to some of the people who were murdered by the group that you've joined. some of the british men and some of the women, some of the kids from manchester, who were killed in the manchester arena. you must have heard about that attack? what did you think about that? i was shocked but... but... i just couldn't. .. i didn't know about the kids, actually. i do feel that is wrong that innocent people did get killed. shamima begum is now wanted here in syria and wanted at home. as the islamic state caliphate collapses, it leaves more than just rubble in its wake. 12 more british women arrived in this camp last alone. the japanese car maker honda is to shut down its factory in britain with the loss of thousands of jobs. a formal announcement is expected later on tuesday. the british government says it has nothing to do with brexit. but a top union official has blamed it on what he called "chaotic

brexit uncertainty". jon kay reports. for 30 years, honda cars have been heading out of this factory to a showroom near you. but for how much longer? workers leaving the swindon plant tonight were stunned by news that the site could close. i've got two kids, i've got a mrs, obviously this is my full—time job, this is my life, so obviously without this, technically i'm jobless. ijust think all these companies that are closing down, it shouldn't be happening. i'm hearing there might be a meeting tomorrow so we willjust wait and see what they say about that tomorrow. but obviously it is all over social media so, yeah, that is all we know at the moment. so you found out on social media? yes, we found out on social media. last month, honda announced it would shut the swindon operation for six days in april, to deal with any brexit disruption. and some of the 3,500 workers now blame brexit

for a more permanent closure. i can't imagine a more stark warning to the government. no deal will be catastrophic for the uk car industry and if there is no deal in particular, this will not be the only plant closure. there will be more to come. honda has helped transform this old railway town into a vibrant business hub, and many here believe the threat to the plant now is more about global trade and vehicle trends than it is about uk politics. whatever the reason, the unions are furious. for the last two years, the uk car industry has been the jewel in the crown of british manufacturing. today's announcement, should it be confirmed, just rips the heart out of it. a lot of people in swindon, all they have ever known is honda. martin has worked at the plant since the 1990s. his honda parked proudly on the driveway. but tonight he is worried not just about the thousands ofjobs at the plant,

but the thousands more in the chain. all the companies that supply honda, all the lorries that go in and out, picking up the cars, all the people that supply the parts, they are not going to have the money to go into the shops to spend and things like that. that is going to hit the shops, the retail. it isjust going to be a catastrophe. honda is the biggest thing to ever hit swindon. without honda, there is no swindon. tomorrow morning, the thousands of workers here hope to get some kind of explanation, but many of them have told us they are less bothered about the way and that they care far more about what next. john kay, bbc news, swindon. africa is the continent with the youngest population on earth — and some have suggested it could be an engine for global economic growth. foreign countries have invested billions of dollars —

betting on africa's future. the bbc‘s tim allman reports on one man in ghana — who has become a budding businessman. here in his workshop, jeffrey abella performs miracles of a sort. he takes old tires, recycled glass, fabric, different coloured ropes, and makes bespoke furniture. coffee tables and armchairs. a thriving business and example to others. i love myjob. i love what i do. it's the best thing i've done for myself. i feel i'm part of a problem—solving community. jeffrey's been doing this for five years, picking up tires dumped here and there which he then transforms. and he's a busy chap. he also studies economics at university and trains other aspiring entrepreneurs.

items sell for anything between 30— $250. for his customers, it's a chance to buy some new furniture and fly the flag. the exciting part of it is that it's made in ghana. and buying it promotes our products. jeffrey says he wants to teach others about waste management, proving you can help clean the environment and make some money at the same time. tim allman, bbc news. we are going to in the programme with breaking news in the united states. a collection of 16 states led by california are assuming president trump over the decision to declare an emergency to build a wall on the mexican border. a trend for the weather to turn very

mild for this end of the week and the big picture we see winds develop over the next few days and those winds will be dragging up all the warm air, 2000 miles to our south and placing it northwards across the uk. a question for how much cloud there is going to be and it looks pretty cloudy for the next three days but towards the end of the week as pressure begins to rise, we will likely see that cloud break and some cloud breaks towards the end of the week that we could see temperature is left as high as 17 or 18 celsius for a few of us. is left as high as 17 or 18 very warm weather for us for late february on the way. back to today's whether. .. we do have relatively clear skies across england and wales and keeping temperature is out for most of us, a few showers across northern and western areas of the uk and across the south we have clear skies and patches of frost out into the countryside and one or two

fog patches first thing tuesday morning. for early risers there is some fairly chilly weather out there and a bright start today for many of us. showers across the northwest will probably tend to ease as the crowd builds and later in the day. we will start to see wet weather place and during tuesday afternoon and the rain eventually reaching western scotland, england and wales. it should stay largely dry and bright for southeast england, east anglia and south of scotland. tuesday night, rain continues to push its way northwards and eastwards. temperature is around 7-10dc. into wednesday plus my forecast, we have low pressure with us and coming up from a south—westerly direction but we will have rain at times and the widest of the leather across northwestern areas that the country. —— the wet test of the weather.

the rain tries to move eastwards as it tries to go into the building area of high pressure said they will not beat much rain in the forecast and that is probably where we will have the best of any brightness around. there are signs that there is a shed start to brighten up with the best of sunshine most likely to be east of high ground so perhaps the midlands and east areas not too badly. quite a bit of cloud with a threat of rain across the western aisles but temperatures are beginning to rise but we could see temperatures go as high as 18 degrees. and that is your weather. i'm kasia madera with bbc news. our top story. the founder of huawei has hit back at the united states, saying his daughter's arrest is politically motivated. ren zhengfei also told the bbc that the west's attempts to ban its participation in 5g networks "won't crush" the company. a coalition of 16 us states, led by california, has sued the trump administration over its decision to declare a national emergency to obtain funds for constructing a wall along

the us—mexico border. and this video is trending on bbc.com. the moment some anti—government "yellow—vest" protesters threw stones at a police van in lyon, france. the french interior ministry says the violence was "one—sided". the protests began last year over fuel taxes, that's all, stay with bbc news. our top uk story. labour's deputy leader, tom watson, has warned his party to change, or face more resignations. seven backbench mps have quit in protest