this is bbc news. the headlines: a day of worldwide protests on climate change has reached its climax in new york, with a rally addressed by greta thunberg. the swedish teenager said she hoped the protests will mark a social tipping point. demonstrations have taken place in cairo and elsewhere in egypt against the government. they called for president abdel fattah el—sisi to go and demanded an end to military rule. police fired tear gas to disperse them. the woman who claims she was abused by prince andrew has given an interview to us media. buckingham palace emphatically denies the duke of york had any sexual contact with her. president trump says there's inappropriate about a conversation he said with a foreign leader. us media reports president trump ask the president of ukraine to investigate the son of his democratic rival, joe biden. those other headlines. —— are the

headlines. the boyfriend of the teenagerjodie chesney, who was stabbed in a random attack in a park in east london, has told a court that she screamed continuously for two minutes after the assault, and that it took around 15 minutes for the emergency services to arrive. two men and two teenagers are on trial at the old bailey, charged with the murder of the 17—year—old, in march. dan johnson reports. today, eddie coyle gave his account of the last moments of his girlfriend's life, describing how two men come out of the dark in an instant and she was fatally stabbed. they had been together forjust three months and he said she was a great person, funny, sometimes silly, sometimes sensible. he told the jury they were in the park with friends, listening to music, drinking and smoking cannabis, when two hooded men approached without a word being said. he demonstrated to the jury how the taller man raised his arm and swung it towardsjodie‘s back. close to tears at one point, eddie said, jodie was in shock

at first — she didn't know what had happened. she just started screaming. she screamed very loudly, he said, continuously for about two minutes straight. then she began to faint. we can't name two of the defendants, who are 16 and 17. the jury heard svenson ong—a—kwie was seen on cctv the next morning getting rid of some of his clothes. manuel petrovic is accused of driving them in his car on the night. all four deny murder. anotherfriend ofjodie‘s, bryce henderson, recounted how he previously bought cannabis from a local drug dealer called spencer. he denied there was any outstanding debt or a feud. but earlier this weekjodie was described as the innocent victim of a row over drugs. her boyfriend said there was no reason for anyone to hurt her. dan johnson, bbc news, at the old bailey. it is 2:32am. now on bbc news: talking books.

hello and welcome to talking books with me kirsty wark year at the edinburgh international book festival. every year the festival brings writers from around the world to explore new ideas and new books. with me today isjing—jing lee. her debut novel kirsty wark explores the world of wartime comfort women in singapore. a story of endurance, brutality and survival in japanese occupied singapore. this heartbreaking story explores shame and secrecy through two timelines woven together in this deeply moving novel. welcome to talking books,

jing—jing lee. i'm delighted to have you. how we disappeared is quite an extraordinary book. but the idea of a novel does make the novel came from an earlier novella in which a character is a cardboard woman. tell me about that? a road, if i could tell you, it's a book based on a cast of characters living in a building that is to be torn down in singapore. this happens a lot in singapore. this happens a lot in singapore. old buildings are torn down to make way for new ones. and cardboard lady is just one of many, many people, but her voice spoke to me, spoke louder than anyone else‘s, actually. so after i finish that book, she was still in my head. and i started to dream about her, so i couldn't stop thinking about her. tell me about cardboard lady, who was she? she was a woman who just

lost her husband, as was in this book, and she just was lost her husband, as was in this book, and shejust was kind of hovering above the poverty line. she has to gather cardboard pieces and bring them to the recycling centre in order to make just bring them to the recycling centre in order to makejust a bit of money. that's the woman that i wrote about in if i good tell you. and i just wanted to write people living on the edge of society in singapore. we know singapore is largely a wealthy, fast paced society. we know about crazy rich asians, but there are other people living in singapore. a lot of the victims of the war, especially the female victims, i wanted this — i wanted those stories to be told. we are battling with the edinburgh wind in

the tent here, i hope that isn't too distracting for you. in how we disappeared, it is a number of stories, but mainly the story of wang dee. she was a comfort women, it is such a misnomer, comfort woman. comfort woman is a very euphemistic term. i find woman. comfort woman is a very euphemistic term. ifind it rather galling, a term for sexual slaves, sex leaves. these women were coerced into becoming sex slaves for the japanese army during the war. the japanese army during the war. the japanese imperial army started the idea of comfort women in the 1930s and then obviously, when the japanese came to singapore, that is when a lot of women in singapore

we re when a lot of women in singapore were tricked into being sex slaves we re were tricked into being sex slaves were sent from home to supposedly work ina were sent from home to supposedly work in a factory but actually they weren't. when you are going up in singapore, did you know anything about comfort women? the interesting fa ct about comfort women? the interesting fact is if you asked the average singaporean, they would know, they would say, yeah, we know about comfort women. they existed. but you really don't get an open discussion about this in public, i think. tell me about what happened. who was wang dee in your story? what happened to her? at the beginning of the story she is an old lady who is still trying to come to terms with the death of her husband. the death of the old one, as she calls him precipitates this long speech ——

wang di. she realises she doesn't have time left, she left it to the last moment with her husband but she didn't get to tell him everything. so, ithink didn't get to tell him everything. so, i think the tension comes from that. her regret not having told him everything about what happens at her asa everything about what happens at her as a child and what happened during the war. what happens is she becomes this awfully named comfort women. there were hundreds of these comfort stations all over and she was repeatedly submitted to rape 60—70 times a day. and the key thing was not to get pregnant, because if you we re not to get pregnant, because if you were pregnant you could either get thrown out or died. she found an extraordinary inner strength to deal with it and got out in the end. the war is over and she comes home, but

the shame lingers. in the book you write about her shame. she says "even write about her shame. she says " even after write about her shame. she says "even after her marriage, she felt the shame cling to her, the way a fishmonger never gets the smell of fishmonger never gets the smell of fish out of their fingernails." could you read an extract for us? yes. this is after the war, after she has come home, and she is in the kitchen with her mother. " years ago, my father had made a dusting motion with his hands when he mentioned how daughters were to be married. how his family would, thankfully, continue with young. i was in the words of my parents, during my most desperate, worst moments, useless, disposable. in a black—and—white house i had comforted myself with the fact that my time there might give my family

relief in much—needed cash for food oi’ relief in much—needed cash for food or medicine. that there at least i wasn't absolutely useless, that it might make the difference between life and death of them, that was how i bought it, the rates, the unforeseeable beatings, the humiliation of never having a choice when they told me to set up, open wide, lie down and shut up. it was how i stayed my hand from reaching for the bottle of empty septic and dipping the clear liquid into my throat. how i put the dress on every morning after my shower instead of ripping it, twisting the cloth intel it became a pale, blue news. did i do it to myself? was it all me?" —— pale, blue noose. (applause) so here we have wang di, she hasn't been able to tell her

story. but in singaporean society, this was going on from 1942 until the end of the war, but it always seemed to happen to someone else. it was never your family did seemed to happen to someone else. it was never yourfamily did happen seemed to happen to someone else. it was never your family did happen to. so why was it such a shame to have had a comfort woman in yourfamily when it was certainly never their fault? i think in a patriarchal society such as singapore, women we re society such as singapore, women were meant to stay pure, untouched. they were only meant to be daughters, mothers, and they had to remain pristine. to admit they were raped would have been akin to saying they had committed adultery. of course it wasn't their fault, but, the idea was that they had a part in it. it was the same with i think, women in south korea, women in korea, who were taken. some didn't

dare to go home. they stayed in the countries they were brought to, in china, sometimes. comfort women, on their return, if they even managed to survive, weren't always embraced by theirfamilies. to survive, weren't always embraced by their families. that is a double horrorfor by their families. that is a double horror for them. yeah. i came across quite a few accounts of women who had returned home and went back to theirfamilies had returned home and went back to their families and never told them. most of them just never told their families. their families must have known and turned a blind eye. yes. one woman did tell her mother and her mother promptly died of shock. it was such a big blow to these people. and during my research, i listen to a lot of interviews with survivors of the war in singapore. and like you said, it was always — it happens at the daughter of an ex— neighbour, it happened to a distant

relative, a cousin of a cousin. though, nobody wanted the same to be forced upon them stop it was some thing that — it almost felt as if they thought it was contagious. thing that — it almost felt as if they thought it was contagiouslj wa nt they thought it was contagious.” wa nt to they thought it was contagious.” want to talk to you about your research, it seems externally to me that it wasn't until 1981, that a woman called kim hang some and forwarding korea to say she had been a comfort woman. she was a human rights campaigner. but there has been relatively little from singapore, more from korea. iwonder how you managed to do your research? idid the how you managed to do your research? i did the bulk of my research strolling through stories —— trawling through stories from comfort women in korea. there is a whole community around these women. they set up a house especially for

them. it's called the house of sharing. these women are taken care of in their old age, they have people who are there to listen to their stories and take care of them, make sure that their needs are met in their 80s make sure that their needs are met in their80s and make sure that their needs are met in their 80s and 90s. and that i find really quite lovely. i can't say the same has happened elsewhere, of course. because you don't find nearly the same reception from other countries. in malaysia, for example, i don't think anybody has come forward. it was never disguised in terms of post what —— discussed in terms of post what —— discussed in terms of post what —— discussed in terms of postwarjapanese— singaporean relations. that is a tricky one. because i think both japan and singapore wanted to make sure that they stay good friends, that they had good economic relations after the war, both countries were very interested in

making sure that everything was going on smoothly economically. so i think a lot was unspoken. you, having done this research, moving it into this extraordinary novel —— you wove it. and you wrote it in english, not your first language.” find the idea of first language is a bit tricky, because obviously i was raised mandarin. my parents big mandarin, they speak a dialect to each other, but they raised me mandarin. —— my parents speak mandarin. —— my parents speak mandarin. i started mandarin. —— my parents speak mandarin. istarted reading english seriously when i was five or six. notjust picture books. i got to it late, but i was so drawn in by this other, different world, that it soon became my first language. i would say i dream in english and i always think that's the marker, that is the

test for how close you are to a language. if you dream in it, then it is your first language. this book will not be well received injapan, this book will not be well received in japan, presumably.” this book will not be well received in japan, presumably. i don't think so. in japan, presumably. i don't think so. i wonder, can in japan, presumably. i don't think so. iwonder, can a in japan, presumably. i don't think so. i wonder, can a country truly move forward, i am thinking particularly of how germany has handled it, for example, if you don't apologise? i think germany has done a lot in terms of acknowledging the past and what the nazi regime did during the war. in germany, schoolchildren have to do know about the history of the war from start to finish and they go through it three times during the course of their education. it is not the same thing injapan. education. it is not the same thing in japan. obviously. and education. it is not the same thing injapan. obviously. and it used to be the case that they had a few

lines dedicated to saint paul in malaya, but the language kept getting scaled back. first the japanese government was described as being aggressive. and it became whittled down to, oh, this was done in singapore, in the passive form. as if something had happened in singapore but it was not them. of course, individual japanese singapore but it was not them. of course, individualjapanese people are very well aware of it. um... i wouldn't say people are very much aware of it, especially not today, because of this lack of information. this is interesting to me. because i was in adelaide earlier this year to promote the book and a japanese woman came up promote the book and a japanese woman came up to promote the book and a japanese woman came up to me promote the book and a japanese woman came up to me to thank me for having written the book because she had no idea about this. she learned nothing about it at school, and had

read nothing about it in the papers. so she really wanted to glean more, not just from the so she really wanted to glean more, notjust from the book but doing research on her own, and she asked me for tips on which books to read out what to look out for. then, i think a week or so ago, an american japanese woman, she also wrote to me to say that she had read my book and she had no idea either. so that is interesting, but some people, some segments of the population, are very open to knowing more about what happened during the war, about what their country did during the war. but there are of course a lot of other voices. so you tell this story often through the eyes, failing eyes, of a young boy named kevin is very shortsighted. why have you made

him shortsighted? it was a very personal choice because my eyesight is not great either. i have these fabulous contacts. i wouldn't be able to see without them. and most of my friends wear glasses. so it is a very common thing to be shortsighted. and i think kevin is also... i like the idea of him not being able to see very much, and having than to sniff out things in other ways. he, in having than to sniff out things in otherways. he, in not having than to sniff out things in other ways. he, in not seeing things clearly is also kind of a reflection of how things are in singapore, things are not clearly delineated in singapore. rules are not marked out. he doesn't know what he is not supposed to talk about. but what he is supposed to do, as far as the characters are concerned, is wind this story out. yes, he first tries to find out what happened to his grandmother. during the war. because she left him a cryptic message, just

as she was about to pass away. so in doing so he finds wang ti, and he decides to tell the story. you draw on your own family's history for the book. tell me about that.” on your own family's history for the book. tell me about that. i was home and my parents had just come back from temple, so my father comes up to me, and he tells me, i saw somebody who looks exactly like your grandmother. my grandmother has been dead for 20 years. so i asked him, do you think it is a relative, and he said, well, it could be your great—aunt. and i was a little bit... again, very puzzled, because my great—aunt was dead. and he told me that during the war my great—grandfather lived in a village that had been set upon by the

invading japanese troops. during the course of it, my great—grandfather's family was massacred. my grandmother survived only because she had been married out of the village, she was living with her new husband, as did my great—aunt. so the ones still living in their home village with my great—grandfather were killed, and the youngest child, a girl child, about two years of age, she had disappeared to. and the last thing my great—grandfather had heard before he passed away, he had been injured, so before he passed out, he heard the cries of the baby. and that was the last thing he heard of his child. when he woke up he couldn't find her anymore. and they

tried for years to search the child. you didn't notice. you heard that a lot of your family had been killed and your great—grandfather was a survivor, but you never heard about this other baby. and yet here are in this other baby. and yet here are in this book. yeah, the only way i can explain it is that my father, i think he must have told me about this when i was a child and was much too young to process it properly. so i must have squealed this away in my mind, only to have it resurface in this way in the book. —— squirrel. you say that what was left of your family looked for the baby for many yea rs, family looked for the baby for many years, but you also talk about singapore being a very patriarchal society where women didn't seem to matter as much. yeah. i think this can be seen right in the first chapter. wang di's name means to hope for a brother. and i have to admit that i took this, it is very closely tied in with my mother's name. my mother's name is chao di, which is very similar to wang di's

name and it also means to welcome more to take care of the brother. so it is unfortunate that her very birth was seen to only conjure up this hope for a boy child. and thankfully, the next child was a boy. is there something about an island nation that wants to keep its story in, and is that part of the reason why comfort women are just not so openly discussed?” reason why comfort women are just not so openly discussed? i think the case for, the case of singapore is, it is not just case for, the case of singapore is, it is notjust that it is an island, it is notjust that it is an island, it is notjust that it is an island, it is the fact that there is a government prescribed story and we should stick to that story. we can talk about all the other things that happened, it's all right. i wrote a

book that is based on the stories of korean women. it is a work of fiction stop i think it is all right. but if you were to, let's say, round—up people and campaign for women's rights in front of the japanese embassy, that would not go down very well. so i wonder how your book will go down in singapore?” think it is doing quite well, in terms of sales. i haven't done any event there. so i am... i will be quite interested, to see what the actual reception is like, from people who have read the book, from officials, if they care at all.” know you have a young child now, but are you ready to write again? do you have something you want to say?” are you ready to write again? do you have something you want to say? i am dying to write again! but it is difficult when an eight—month—old baby. you are needed so much. and it

is... being a mother is so wonderful and so enriching, but it is also so difficult. jing-jing lee. applause hello. friday brought a lot of sunshine to a lot of places across the british isles and i don't think we're going to see a radical change for many areas on saturday. simply because the overall pattern is still pretty similar. high pressure in the continent, low pressure in the atlantic, therefore, we are still tapping

into this run of south—easterly airs and quite strong winds at times, up from the mediterranean, through the near continent and into the heart of the british isles. that is dry air so we are not seeing an awful of cloud for most of us just at the moment. the exceptions to that, the northern ireland ‘s and later in the day, the first signs of the atlantic front trying to cloud things over in the south—west. an onshore breeze from the north sea will keep the eastern coast down at about 15, 16, 17 but come inland, 20 plus is widely available. through saturday night and on into sunday, the first signs of the change in that the high—pressure drifts further away and in comes the front from the atlantic. that will set the tone for sunday. before the persistent rain arrives, we will have some quite sharp showers and maybe the odd under storm gradually drifting up the spine of the british isles and then the front makes progress away from the western fringes ever further towards the north and east and to avoid that rain, some of it quite heavy will have to be that further north and east. still, the temperature in excess of 22—23 degrees or so towards the east but fresh air is coming in from the atlantic and that sets the tone for the start of next week.

monday, not too bad. the rain from sunday gradually eventually clearing away from that far north—eastern corner of scotland and then a lull in proceedings and then late in the day, more signs of the next belt of wet and windy weather pushing in from the atlantic into the south—western quarter of the british isles. not cold by any means but the temperature is back on what we have seen at the weekend. and then as we move from monday into tuesday, that area of low pressure becomes pretty resident out towards the western side of the british isles and at times, through the next few days, it will be throwing these belts of cloud and wind and rain across many parts of the british isles. it's all going to be quite mobile so it won't rain persistently anywhere for the whole day but while that rain is around, you will notice it, this is not showers, thisis belts of rain moving in from the atlantic. and there is not a great deal of difference as we go from tuesday into wednesday. low pressure still out towards the west of the british isles, still with these weather fronts working their way in and at times, some really quite strong winds. quite a change on the way.

welcome to bbc news — i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: protesters around the world have taken to the streets in a global call for action against climate change. we are united behind the science and we will do everything in our power to stop this crisis from getting worse. in egypt, protests against president sisi, with many calling for him to stand down. hello and welcome to bbc news. protests by millions of young people that swept across the globe, demanding action against climate change, have come to a close.