baker tried. to live with the rules by. being recipes for six strategies that make a difference. baking bread on. this is. coming up on the program on the trail of islam and state in the philippines an exclusive report from the island of mindanao and how the separatist conflict that is being exploited. plus. how a german became a social media china with a funny take on these chinese in-laws.

welcome to. it's good to have you with us we begin today in the philippines where the scene behind me is what many expect to see in this island nation but this beauty hides destruction of the kind last seen in the country during the second world war from the ground this is the reality this is my hobby city after a five month battle between iowa's fighters and the philippines army fought in twenty seventeen located on the southern island of mindanao the battle in but obviously was one of the most violent chapters in a conflict that has seen the deaths of more than one hundred twenty thousand people it's been the struggle for autonomy waged by the island's muslim population a struggle that could soon be subverted by the imagines of islamic state.

we are on patrol with the largest muslim rabid group in mindanao the moro islamic liberation front or m.i.l.f. for decades they fought for independence tens of thousands were killed. but since the self-proclaimed islamic state burst onto the scene in two thousand and seventeen the muslim rebels have joined forces with the philippine army both sides feel threatened by as fight has now laying low. the muslim minority strongly supports the m.i.l.f. only five percent of filipinos are muslims and almost all live in mindanao the areas are among the poorest in the philippines many here blame the christian majority got the men for their plight. we visit the military headquarters of the m.i.l.f. the government needs the rabbit support to secure

a peace and to fight terror president rodrigue has promised them a far reaching autonomy let us use. the chief of staff isn't in uniform a sign perhaps of the shift from insurgency to politics or the m.i.l.f. as seen defectors joining i as we ask in what might happen if the autonomy project goes badly i would agree be really did a lot of people really become diminished. the ice history of. this treasure. all the followers of. dorian are there and. it will become bigger. he tells us that they will disarm up to thirty thousand fighters but only with full muslim autonomy. they are not. the men we will not. do commission our war sis and we will not give

up our firearms which we promised to the government. this is what both sides are trying to avoid and not the rabi the largest muslim city of the philippines lies in ruins bombed out after a few hundred s. fighters had occupied mahratti for five months two years ago. more than one thousand people were killed. tens of thousands remain displaced. it was president to tear to who ordered the bombing but he's also a strong supporter of muslim autonomy his film a peace adviser tells us. it is a strong signal to the bad guys. around read this country i have been in the peace process under several presidents and we have not moved us far as we have this time the president feels that we can improve. if we give more of our for

the locals but it must be under one flag the philippine flag. but if the autonomy dr fay it's more disaffected muslims could join radical outfits in addition after the loss of their caliphate in syria and iraq more foreign i guess five tests might also decide that mindanao is the new front. and joining me here in the studio is one of the authors of the report. it does monsanto thank you so much for coming in but your report mentions the struggle for autonomy on mindanao the government has promised after a referendum this autonomous state to the muslims of mindanao or to be valid in the next three years does that go some distance in diffusing the threat from islamic state i think that's what they're trying to achieve it is about winning the hearts

and minds of people to support government in the end you know if you want to root out terror you need to be standing shoulder to shoulder which is government and its people which is not entirely the case in mindanao because there are grievances legitimate grievances they way back you know it is a long history of conflict dating back to colonial times so we're looking at not only decades in fact couple of decades. of conflict here and if you want to with that out if you want to bring people on board for your political plan then you've got to give them something and as we look at the regions the muslim majority regions in mindanao they're rather poor they're amongst the least developed in the whole of the philippines and that needs to change and that was one of the reasons why you have this forty year long insurgency on mindanao and that is where the autonomy demand comes in and now with autonomy nearly within reach is that the only plan that the government has to tote islamic state or is there something else as

a backup it's a big component obviously but also you're still have martial law in mindanao for the time being till the end of the year if it will be prolonged will that have to see very likely because there is a threat there are still stomachaches there estell bump loss as happened for instance in january on the neighboring island in. so that can't happen again i think the threat here is pretty much isolated incidents but they can cause. they can create so much havoc that this very delicate transition period on the road to autonomy could still go wrong and so what then so for the time being the military is very much a component of the plan as well very briefly speaking to people on mindanao what do they want in the future if you speak to muslims they just wish for a better life for the right to self-determination but we also visited some christian villages who are in the. home then you autonomous region and they are

rather scared because they don't know what it means to be a route by future government on their left where do another three years to see how things done how did was underbid as one thanks so much for coming into the studio for us. and if you want to know more about radical islamists in the philippines you can watch on us full report online that's at youtube dot com. documentary so check that out and lots of other stories as well. where in china on next on a job one man has become a viral hit in fact he becomes a hit each time he posts a video online so how does he do it. big matted to his ideas works very well. when thomas docks also known as office throws through the streets of shanghai he

rarely goes unnoticed. a. little. thomas is a celebrity on the chinese internet seven million people follow him on social media when he posts clips about his life as a foreigner in china it's easy to hear shanghai accent is great your real shanghainese. there were really. thomas came to shanghai as a student in two thousand and twelve he fell in love and stayed in his videos he talks and fluent chinese about a broad range of topics food. traffic. health we have the view. but it all started with a sketch about his sign on german mariage. to me if you're not in the audience you . need an id hike through all the photos. put

stuff on the fly if you pay for the car you. thomas and his wife julie write and produce the clips together and they can make a living from them it all started when they came across a video by a chinese internet celebrity yes and sketch that we recorded a sketch about coming hung for chinese new year that's when people are us the same questions over and over again when you're getting married how much do you know when you're going to buy a car when you're going to buy a flat well julie then said to me you should film a clip about marrying into a chinese family as a foreigner that. you want to go. to my mom you're going over to. what do you know. more about my show i was when i told my parents i'm dating a foreigner my father put his glass down we were having lunch and he said what did

you say you were i said a foreigner he shouted are you crazy what's wrong with you all these foreigners are playboys. his father noise one of the main characters in our food thomas gets he's even written a book on him but since those easy first month their relationship has improved. it's true i didn't like him at the start he's fat he said he was poor and a student made don't talk about that it's embarrassing. they continue to joke about what has now turned into a wonderful friendship for his part thomas says he's lucky to have found a chinese family who share his sense of humor one sketch at a time. and there's a matter is no laughing matter that story and more on our website that's e.w.

dot com. and you can of course check us out on a facebook page as well. the that's our show for today we're leave you with these wonderful rituals of trying does cold water fall the largest of all the yellow to about as you can see it's all i've heard for in the spring fall is here next time i buy some go for the fled the fled the first. place. the fled.

the for the. with think different languages we fight for different things that's fine but we all stick up for freedom freedom of speech and freedom of press. giving freedom of choice global news that matters w made for mines. her first day at school in the jungle. first clueless of the.

band doris crane the moment arrives. joined the ring turning on her journey back to freedom. in our interactive documentary. tour in the u.k. returns home on the w. dot com bring it tanks. china says it's open to the world is it critics question agents motives behind huge credit lines handed out through eastern and central europe. as a bogus its books were best as we take a look at it and shareholder softbank at its ambitions to rule the road. at japan's that's opening its doors further to farm workers. i mean physical and let's do business china is a big spender in eastern and central europe it's

a basement pretty much match those of the e.u. beijing's already announced a three billion dollar fund and ten billion in credit lines for the region now at the opening of it and you will today's summit between china and sixteen he said in central european nations chinese army and make a chance or twin lay concerns that his country seeks to weaken e.u. unity a promise to respect european standards and fair trade the backdrop to all this china's massive global infrastructure at best a program known as the belt road initiative. it by not look like much but this will soon be the site of a four hundred twenty million euro bridge span indeed three out of. its fine and some part with chinese money. projects like these are intended to build a bridge between beijing and states in eastern and southern europe. asia in hopes of further cement its foothold in europe for its belt and road initiative it would see china secured.