air will welcome to newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. hong kong's chief executive carrie lam promises to reflect after pro—democracy parties win a landslide in local elections. the message is that the hong kong opposition is now the most powerful political group in hong kong. it is no longer a protest movement. it now has a proper democratic mandate and that means that the chief executive can no longer ignore their demands. a us court rules that a former white house counsel must testify before congress, rejecting the trump administration's argument that white house officials cannot be compelled to do so. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme.

australian intelligence officials investigate allegations of a plot to get a chinese spy elected to parliament. and we meet the malaysian punk rocker who's leading the ‘straight—edge‘ movement, by promoting a totally sober lifestyle. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. good morning. it's 9am in singapore and the same time in hong kong, where leader carrie lam has said the government will seriously reflect after local elections saw massive gains by pro—democracy candidates.

they secured almost 90% of district council seats in sunday's poll. it's being seen as a stinging rebuke of ms lam's leadership and a show of support for the protest movement. from hong kong, rupert wingfield hayes reports. this is not the sort of media attention usually given to the winners of a local council election. but last night's victory for hong kong's democrats was no ordinary win. it was an unprecedented landslide. these newly minted young politicians won 85% of all the seats contested. we have five demands... today, they gathered to tell hong kong's government they will not be ignored. government parties, they have no more excuses for saying that rioters don't get the popular support. now we see that they have popular support. hong kong people have learned a lesson, that they understand that without democracy,

any freedom... ..all the freedom that we have is very fragile. it can be gone in one day by a tyranny. the message here today is that the hong kong opposition is now the most powerful political group in hong kong. it is no longer a protest movement. it now has a proper democratic mandate. and that means that the chief executive can no longer ignore their demands. time for the hong kong government to act may be short. in central hong kong today, prominent pro—beijing politician regina ip had to be escorted from her office by riot police withjeering, hostile crowds. out on a street corner this evening, paul tse was thanking his supporters. he's one of a handful of pro—government councillors who survived the election. but he says it has been a nightmare for the pro—government camp. everything is wrong. i think we have to start with the government policies, government strategies, the composition of all kinds of things, the cabinet and what have you. i think this is a very loud voice

of the people that they aren't happy with what they've been going through the last six months. but anyone looking for a hopeful sign from beijing today got nothing. a foreign ministry spokesman again insisting that hong kong is china's internal affair, and everyone else should mind their own business. applause but without some acknowledgement of what happened here on sunday, the celebrations could soon turn back into violence on the streets. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in hong kong. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. a court in washington has ruled that former white house counsel, don mcgahn, must comply with a congressional subpoena related to an investigation into russian interference in the 2016 us elections. that probe is now complete, but the ruling could provide a legal basis for white house

officials to testify before the impeachment inquiry. our north america correspondent david willis has more. it is interesting, isn't it, because the white house had argued that former senior aides had immunity from being called to testify before congress and that, therefore, there was no compulsion for them to do so. well, now, a federal judge in washington, dc has decided otherwise, and that means that the former white house counsel, don mcgahn, a very influential man, somebody who was in the white house from the early days, will be called upon to testify before congress and that the subpoenae does count legally. don mcgahn of course is someone who was very useful to the former special council robert mueller and his investigation into allegations of collusion between the trump campaign and

russia. mr mcgahn famously told robert mueller that he had been told by the president in a late—night telephone call to his home to get onto thejustice department and sack mueller himself, the special counsel, and when that story became public, the president had called on him to hold a press conference and deny there was any truth to it. what this could all do now is lead to renewed calls from the democrats for other former senior trump administration officials to be brought before congress to testify, not least of them of course the former national security adviserjohn bolton. but that said, this ruling by this federal court in washington, dc is expected to be appealed by the white house. the us navy secretary

who was fired after falling out with donald trump over the handling of a misconduct case, has told american cbs news that the move risked discipline in the military. richard spencer sparked tensions with the president, after he demoted a navy seal who was pictured posing over the corpse of an i—s prisoner. here he is speaking to cbs reporter david martin. what were the ramifications of intervening in that review process? right now, we're not going to do it, is what the secretary says. what message does that sand to the troop? what message does it send? that you can get away with this. we have to have good order and discipline. it's the back bone of what we do in the trident review process with the senior enlisted reviewing below senior enlisted reviewing below senior enlisted reviewing is critical. they are the back bone of oui’ critical. they are the back bone of our military, they are the girder of good order and discipline. they can handle this, they can handle this on each one of their communities.

also making news today — the world meteorological organisation has called on governments around the globe to honour their promises about climate change. it comes as the un organisation says that levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new high last year, despite international pledges to curb emissions. our environment correspondent matt mcgrath explains. what scientists have been doing for 30 years, they've been monitoring levels of these warming gases in the atmosphere, using a network of stations all around the world, and what they're looking at is concentrations, not emissions. so, emissions are the things that come from cars, from making electricity. concentration is what is left, when the seas and the trees and the land have absorbed a lot of the gases. so, when they see this, they're able to compare quite easily what's happened every year — every year for the last 30 years, these have gone up. this year, 2018, the data we have the latest from, shows no difference. it has gone up a little bit, about 0.5%, but the scientists are worried about the fact that we've had an agreement to cut warming gases for the last five

years, it doesn't seem to be having an effect in the atmosphere. a second man has been arrested in connection with the deaths of 39 vietnamese people in a lorry in essex in eastern england. the 36—year—old man is being held on suspicion of manslaughter. a 25—year—old lorry driver, from county armagh, has already admitted plotting to assist illegal immigration. the men are accused of being part of a larger plot to bring people into the uk illegally. uber has been refused a new license by london's transport authority, transport for london, which said it had identified a pattern of failures, that put passengers safety at risk. uber has 21 days to appeal, during which it can continue to operate. rico will have more on this story in asia business report. the world anti—doping agency, wada has recommended russia are given a four—year ban from sporting competition for falsifying laboratory data. this would mean that the country wouldn't compete in the upcoming olympics. they are also likely to be barred from staging major international events putting at risk the games

scheduled to be held in st petersburg for euro 2020. a vote on the recommendation will be held early next month. now pope francis is set to conclude his visit to japan shortly. he's visiting sophia university in tokyo(take live os) where he's —— he's visiting sophia university in tokyo where he's held a private holy mass, meeting elderly and infirm priests. he's set to departjapan in a couple of hours, returning to rome. mariko oi has been following his asia tour and shejoins me now. it's been a busy few days for the popein it's been a busy few days for the pope in japan. he it's been a busy few days for the pope injapan. he arrived on saturday for his first visit as nagasaki and hiroshima, two cities whether he —— the atomic bombs were

dropped. his message there was very clear to abolish nuclear weapons. we then moved on to tokyo to meet with emperor naruhito and the prime minister shinzo abe and survivors, victims of the 2011 tsunami so he's had a very busy couple of days in a country where he wanted to become a missionary as a young priest, although his health wouldn't allow him to do so but he spent a very busy few days there. we are seeing live pictures of pope francis at sophia university in japan live pictures of pope francis at sophia university injapan and the last visit of a catholic pope was 38 yea rs last visit of a catholic pope was 38 years ago and that was popejohn paul ii. how is the pope perceived ina paul ii. how is the pope perceived in a country where catholicism is a minority religion? if we look at the

local reaction to his visit, even though as you said, christianity isn't a major religion in the country, he's been very much welcomed and he also raised other issues when he met with victims of the tsunami, he talked about nuclear energy, a controversial subject, and also highlighted the history of christianity and japan. then japanese government tried to the religion so he highlighted that visiting some of the museums in nagasaki. a lot on the blade for the pope. and he continues to break ground in many non— catholic countries. that was clear at the tokyo dome and 50,000 people attended that event, which was such

attended that event, which was such a high turnover. where christianity isn't that major a religion. nevertheless, a lot of people attended that. we are seeing live pictures of pope francis. after this, he will be leaving for the airport and will return to the vatican in rome. thank you for that update mariko oi. australia's prime minister has said allegations of a chinese plot to plant a spy in his country's parliament are deeply disturbing. the claims, first aired by a local tv network, involve a chinese—australian man being approached to run as an mp. the chinese government has denied the allegations, but here's prime minister scott morrison's reaction. i find the allegations deeply disturbing and troubling. and i refer you to the director—general‘s statement which said that these matters were already under

investigation and those investigations are continuing. i would caution anyone leaping to any conclusions about these matters, that is why we have agencies. i'm not, but i do find the allegations troubling and disturbing. alexjoske is an analyst with the think tank the australia strategic policy institute, focusing on chinese communist party influence outside china. he said the australian intelligence community is taking the accusations very seriously. i think they are quite credible and we should be taking seriously the director of australia's domestic intelligence organisations unprecedented public statement that they were aware of these matters, are investigating them and are taking them very seriously. at the very least we can't just dismiss this. it seems like a credible accusation and a credible story. china has denied the allegations. does it not sound very far—fetched to go through these measures?

we have known for quite a while that the chinese communist party has gone to great lengths to try to infiltrate and interfere in australia's parliament, so it really is still shocking but comes as no surprise that china would seek to plant someone directly into our federal parliament. given that nick zhao has lost his life and and the circumstances are still unexplained, will we ever, do you think, alex, find out what really happened here? i don't know for sure whether we will find out, but i think there is so much public interest in this and investigations are ongoing, particularly a coronial inquiry into mr zhao's death, there is a chance we will know within the next year or the next couple of months firstly how he died, whether it was under suspicious circumstances. and secondly, what conclusion the government might come to in its investigation of the case.

and alex, do you think this is something, we are expecting, because we have seen someone else in an unrelated case claiming to be a spy applying for asylum in australia. are we was seeing a pattern here in any way? absolutely. the pattern is that as the china communist party is growing more powerful, more ambitious and more assertive, it is massively increasing its interference in democracies and states around the world. we will have to leave it there. thank you so much. you're watching newsday on the bbc live from london and singapore. still to come on the programme: the moment thieves smashed their way into a museum in dresden and stole one of europe's largest and most important treasure collections. also on the programme: we'll be finding out why this malaysian punk rocker decided a sober lifestyle was the best accompaniment to his music.

president kennedy was shot down and died almost immediately. the murder ofjohn kennedy is a disaster for the whole free world. he caught the imagination of the world, the first of a new generation of leaders. margaret thatcher is resigning as leader of the conservative party and prime minister. before leaving number 10 to see the queen, she told her cabinet, "it's a funny old world." angela merkel is germany's first woman chancellor, easily securing the majority she needed. attempts to fly a hot—air balloon had to be abandoned after a few minutes, but nobody seemed to mind very much. as one local comic put it, "it's not hot air we need, it's hard cash." cuba has declared nine days of mourning following the death of fidel castro at the age of 90.

castro developed close ties with the soviet union in the 1960s. it was an alliance that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war with the cuban missile crisis. this is newsday, on the bbc. i'm rico hizon, in singapore. i'm kasia madera, in london. our top stories: hong kong's chief executive, carrie, lam has promised to reflect, after pro—democracy parties win a landslide in local elections. a us court has ruled that a former white house counsel must testify before congress, rejecting the trump administration's argument that white house officials cannot be compelled to do so. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world: let's start with singapore's straits times. it headlines our top story, the local elections in hong kong, highlighting that pro—democracy

politicians won 388 of 452 district council seats. the paper says that the results are seen as a clear message of voters' unhappiness with authorities. the philippine star says that president rodriguo duterte met south korean president moonjae—in, at a recent summit. the paper writes that the filipino president invited his south korean counterpart to visit the philippines next year, to witness the signing of a proposed free trade deal. and japan times continues to cover the pope's visit to the country. it says that the pontiff met with survivors of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which triggered meltdowns at the fukushima nuclear power plant. now, what stories are sparking discussions online? a sewing circle in the netherlands

is getting a lot of love online after it started making little mittens for koalas injured in the recent australian bushfires. sewing shop owner jeltje van essen says she was jolted into action after seeing these pictures of the koalas with burnt paws. she called upon her group of volunteers to get to work and has even uploaded a pattern online so others can make the mittens too. so far more than 400 pairs have been finished. now it may seem like something of a contradiction — a punk rock movement that promotes a sober lifestyle. but that's what a thai musician is at the forefront of in malaysi. but that's what a thai musician is at the forefront of in malaysia.

khai aziz is promoting the so—called straight—edge movement there, after he lost his brother to a drugs overdose. here's his story. he actually loved my music and he is the one that introduced us to punk rock music. he was the inspiration of mine. one day i come back home, i found that my brother sold everything, and the house was empty. most of my possessions were gone. my brother was hooked on drugs. he needed help. decided that this is enough, and i decided to quit smoking, i decided to quit drugs. swear to myself, i need to become straight—edge. i'm a totally different person when i am on stage. that is the place where i throw my anger. i feel what i feel.

it's ok not to drink, it's ok not to smoke, it's ok not to do drugs. at the same time you can be a punk rocker. time for me to move on, to empower other people to go this way. people are sceptical of the idea of straight—edge, because people love smoking, people love drinking, it is kind of hard to stop all that. the music are different from the normal mainstream music, it's not sentimental or slow, or whatever. it was more to angryness, it was more about expression.

that's what make young people more attracted to this music. we sent the message aggressively but the lyrics are about caring, about family, fraternity, brotherhood. about family, fraternity, brotherhood. priceless jewels have been stolen from one of europe's oldest museums in the german city of dresden. three complete collections of jewellery including diamonds, rubys and emeralds belonging to 18th century royalty were ta ken. two men broke in through a window overnight. david sillito reports. dresden castle, the home of one of the world's greatest displays of royal opulence.

the room of wonders — created to dazzle, to overwhelm people. it was the collection of augustus the strong, a man of extravagant appetites. it was rumoured he had fathered 300 children. the green vault is one of the greatest collections of aristocratic treasure in the world. however, a significant part of it has been stolen. police arrived this morning to find a collection of diamonds, rubies and emeralds, described as part of the state treasury of 18th—century saxony, had gone. translation: the culprits evidently got in through a window. they cut through the bars and then smashed through the glass before they went straight to one the cabinets which they destroyed. they then left the building and disappeared. so, how did they do it? one clue is this burnt out electrical box, street lights failed,

the museum alarm was silent. however, police say a camera did manage to capture images of two thieves as they broke in. the museum says around 100 jewel encrusted items were taken. the value, the museum isn't giving a figure but says this is about more than just money. this collection is, they say, a nation's cultural heritage. david sillito, bbc news. much more on our website. you have been watching newsday. i'm kasia madera, in london. and i'm rico hizon, in singapore. stay with us. could it be the largest share offering across global markets this year? tech giant alibaba starts selling shares on the hong kong stock exchange this morning. in about ten minutes' time. all the analysis coming up on asia business report. and is it too early to mention christmas? well, the white house's christmas tree has been delivered.

merry christmas! not quite yet! first lady melania trump was suitably dressed in a festive red and green jacket but nothing could rival the delivery men's top hats! hello there, there's a big change in the weather for all of us by the end of this week, but before then we have got more mild weather, more cloud, and some further rain and perhaps in some parts, strong to galeforce winds, with the worst of the weather across tuesday and wednesday expected across england and wales. the reason for the wet and windy weather — another area of low pressure, this one contains remnants of ex—tropical storm sebastian and that is going to stick around for the next couple of days. ahead of that, we have still got mild conditions by the morning, a lot of cloud, some further pockets of rain and drizzle but the wetter weather and windier weather will be toward the south—west, where the winds are up picking up in the morning. gusts of 40mph or perhaps 50mph. that will push that rain band northward throughout the day, could be quite heavy at times, push its way northwards

across england and wales into northern ireland and the central belt of scotland, some patchy rain and stronger winds for northern scotland. behind the rain band may get some sunshine but watch out for heavy downpours, particularly toward the south—east of england later on in the afternoon. but with this tropical air heading away, it could be quite warm in the sunshine, 1a or 15 degrees perhaps. but some wet weather for the south—east of england, east anglia into the evening, and our area of low pressure comes back towards the south—west of england and wales, picks up the rain here which will be quite heavy, and also strengthens the wind, and we will see gales pushing through the english channel coastal areas into the channel islands too. so, more rain for england and wales, could be heavy at times, and we are still going to have some wet weather across the far north of scotland. but mainly it's south—east scotland and north—east england that will see the rain turning heavier and more persistent as we head into the afternoon bringing the threat of more localised flooding. temperatures widely in double figures. as we head into thursday, we start to see some changes because the low pressure

is going to take a lot of that rain away into the near continent. our wind direction is going to change from that milder south—westerly to a much colder northerly wind, and that will drag down the cold air across the whole of the country. we have still got some rain to clear away on thursday and there is more of it now across england and wales, a little bit slower but we should see it brightening up for northern ireland and particularly across scotland with some sunshine knocking those temperatures down in that northerly wind, still some mild air across the south but only 11 or 12 degrees. as we move into friday morning, there may well be a frost around, perhaps all the way down toward the midlands as well. that's a significant change. we are also looking at drier weather to arrive on friday, that is going to mean more sunshine for a change, but those images will be lower, typically 5—8 celsius.

we i'm kasia madera

with bbc world news. our top story. hong kong's chief executive, carrie lam, says the government will "seriously reflect" after sunday's local election results. pro—democracy parties swept the board in the poll, claiming nearly 90% of the vote. they say china should recognise their overwhelming victory as a sign of support for wider political reform. a us court has ruled that a former white house counsel must testify before congress, rejecting the trump administration's argument that white house officials cannot be compelled to do so. a sewing circle in the netherlands has been getting a lot of love online. it comes after group started making little mittens for koalas injured in the recent australian bushfires. they sprung into action after seeing these pictures of the koalas with burnt paws.