Are seeing birth rates hit new lows and ask what governments can do about it. Voiceover live from our studios in singapore and london. This is bbc world news. Its newsday. Its 8am in singapore and midnight here in london, where borisjohnson has finally secured an early general election in the uk on the fourth attempt. Mps approved his call for a snap poll on december the 12th by a huge majority, with opposition backing. The Prime Minister said the public must be given a choice over the future of brexit and the country. Labour Leaderjeremy Corbyn said the election is a once in a generation chance to transform our country. Our Political Editor, Laura Kuenssberg, has the latest. These will soon be portraits from the past. Speaker order order. The howls and the rage of a house divided. Theyll be replaced with some new voices. Some here will disappear. I call the Prime Minister. Mrspeaker, thank you. Its never been that straightforward with this group of mps, as this still new Prime Minister knows to his cost. There is only one way to restore the esteem in which our democracy is held, and to recover the respect in which parliament should be held by the people of this country, and that is finally to offer ourselves to the judgement of the people of this country, and i commend this bill to the house. Labour had said no three times already, but this morning they were up for the rallies and the photo ops of a campaign, ready after weeks of refusing for the first december election in nearly 100 years. Its going to be fun, and ive just had a Weather Forecast its going to be good weather laughter. Even though some in this crowd believe its a mistake to go to the polls now. Were going out there to fight an Election Campaign, and i cant wait to get out there on the streets. In every town and village in this country, labour will be there, giving a message of real hope, where this government offers nothing. Labour only in line because the smaller parties changed tack. The snp and the lib dems reckon now the eu has backed a delay to brexit, their best chance of stopping our departure is that election. If youd heard them earlier, you might have imagined it was under way already. I welcome the opportunity of an election, because make no mistake, the election thats coming is going to be the right of scotland to determine its own future. As a United Kingdom family of nations, strong together, working within the eu, we can reshape our economy and harness the technological revolution, and build a brighter future, and thats the message the liberal democrats will be taking to the country in this general election. But that was not everyones view. A general election is about general issues. It is impossible to extrapolate from the result what people think about a very specific issue, in this case brexit. What do we do if we return a Hung Parliament that once again, just like in 2017, is split exactly down the middle and we cannot get anything through . Speaker order those backing a trip to the ballot box won the day. The ayes to the right, 438. The noes to the left, 20. Barring something strange happening in the house of lords tomorrow, the election will be on the 12th of december giving the Prime Minister his way, giving all of us the chance to say who will come here, which mps, which parties will have the job on unfurling the tangle of the last few years, who will be the Prime Minister who defines what happens next. A lot of questions there from Laura Kuenssberg and lets put some of them to Caroline Wheeler, deputy Political Editor at the sunday times. Im pleased to weave got some papers because we had some technical difficulties earlier. Lets start with the daily mail. The metro, they are focusing on this idea that. Of this christmas poll, as they say, a play on words there. The first time weve had a december election since 1923, almost a century since then. It tends to be in may, in the mid spring, summer period, lots of suggestions this will create difficulties with lots of the places that would normally be polling stations booked up for Christmas Parties and the like and the nativity plays and the like, and the nativity plays and the like, and the concerns about the very short days that we are having and the long, drawnout winter nights, but it is certainly on, were having a christmas selection on the 12th of december and the impact of this could be seismic. It means we wont be coming back to parliament until christmas week virtually. 0f be coming back to parliament until christmas week virtually. Of course, depending on what the results of this could be, we could have days if not weeks of wrangling over what happens next if borisjohnson fails to secure what hes hoping to achieve, which is that majority that he has been so sorely lacking to deliver his brexit deal to parliament. And precedent as well, 123 years ago the last december parliament, wasnt it . What happened then . Not necessarily a good omen for the Prime Minister. In fact, in 1923, although the conservatives under Stanley Baldwin got the most number of seats, what then happened is he couldnt form a majority government and ultimately labour and the liberal party, as it was at the time, came together to form a coalition government, and of course it was the last time the liberals w011 it was the last time the liberals won more than 100 seats. Weve seen jo swinson today, the leader of the liberal democrats, suggesting they could go on to win 200 seats in this election, something i think most commentators in westminster would raise a bit of an eyebrow about, but certainly theyve been talking about winning more than 100 seats for sometime now, but all of that remains to be seen. We havent even begun this Election Campaign yet, parliament is yet to be dissolved, we expect that sometime next week and by thursday next week, then its all to play for. The papers are playing around with this, the daily mail grabbing this in reference tojeremy corbyn. Whats interesting in some of the papers is they are coming out of the stocks early in terms of telling us what we should think about this election. We have the mail and the sun basically suggesting Boris Johnson is the man to deliver on brexit, the only man and very critical ofjeremy corbyn, who they see as being a blockage to both brexit and this election, having voted against it for times, and only coming on board today after the European Union guaranteed that extension. The labour Party Position was they had to rule out a no deal brexit, take that off the table, before they were willing to back an election, which is what has happened 110w. Back to the sun, because theyve got an interesting take on a new years leave. Terrifying for those working over christmas, this isnt the news we want they are suggesting if boris wins the election on the 12th with his majority, the aim would be to deliver brexit by new years eve, breakneck speed, parliament would return on the monday and they would have one week before we break up for christmas to get the brexit deal through parliament. 0ne christmas to get the brexit deal through parliament. One of the issues we have already seen that mps have been opposed to the idea of a Fast Track Delivery of the withdrawal agreement. Of course that could be fairly contentious, but this would all be predicated on him winning that stonking majority that obviously hes hoping to do, but lots of people questioning where that might come from because elections. The last election didnt really go, it wasnt about brexit, it about issues, and this time around it might not be a brexit focused theme. The really interesting thing is to remember where we were when theresa may took us where we were when theresa may took us to the polls again with a brexit election with the same intention, deliberate bigger majority for her to get her majority through. She was ina to get her majority through. She was in a stronger position although currently Boris Johnson in a stronger position although currently borisjohnson is in a stronger position although currently Boris Johnson is 16 in a stronger position although currently borisjohnson is 16 points ahead in the polls and she was further ahead, 20 points at some points, and yet labour made ground in that election. Everything is very volatile at the moment and we have parties in complete disarray and virtually anything could happen. Im pleased youre saying that because we have the telegraph saying christmas election but it isnt100 because it still has to go through a number of stages. Thats right, and it also has to go through the house of lords. We dont anticipate any problems there, the idea and unelected chamber would stop an election called by the Prime Minister is almost unthinkable. Weve sat here probably discussing this before, theres been stories happening before that would be the story of the year and we have had them sequentially over a number of days. Its been such an unpredictable period and you can only imagine theres numerous twists and turns to come, especially with a general election and one happening ata time general election and one happening at a time of year where not used to this happening and peoples hagar in the winter is somewhat unpredictable. It is certainly cold out there, a snap election but weve got a cold snap the guardian here, breaking the deadlock in parliament, but like you said earlier, whether we break this deadlock with brexit isa we break this deadlock with brexit is a different question. Thats the question everyone is asking at the moment, is the arithmetic going to change finally . That has blocked any deal going through parliament. Parliament has asserted time and again what it doesnt want but we havent seen a consensus about what it does want. The issue here is the conservatives are set to lose seats in scotland after ruth davidson, the popular leader there, stood down and theres seat in london now and even theres seat in london now and even the Prime Ministers seat of uxbridge is believed to be vulnerable to a libdems swing, particularly that area around london that tends to be very much remain supporting, and also in the south west, where you see the liberal democrats have made gains in the past against the conservatives. But the unknown thing at the moment is what will happen with the brexit party and the suggestion they could pick up seats in the north of england, especially along the m62 corridor, it will be interesting to if they split the vote and allow the tories to come up through the middle, one of the areas they hope to make gains, or whether they will ta ke to make gains, or whether they will take those seats themselves and deny borisjohnson the majority he seeks. Never a dull moment stop in Caroline Wheeler from the sunday times, thank you very much, and im pleased we we re you very much, and im pleased we were able to get some sort of newspaper review for the papers tomorrow. Thanks so much for your time. Lets take a look at some of the days other news. A white house official who overheard a call between us President Donald Trump and ukraines president has testified in congress as part of the impeachment inquiry against mr trump. Lieutenant Alexander Vindman told congress he twice reported his objection to mr trump pressuring ukraine to investigate leading us democratjoe biden. 0ur north america editor, jon sopel, has more. Donald trump sought to characterise whats unfolding as do nothing democrats trying to tear him down over what hes called a perfect call. Hes called it a lynching and says it is people giving evidence are never trumpers and that is what he accused Lieutenant Colonel vindman of being, except that Lieutenant Colonel vindman is a decorated war hero, injured in iraq and turned up at the hearing in his military unifrom, and its hard to characterise him as some kind of party hack who wants to destroy the president. Hes served both republican and Democratic Party administrations, so that makes it more difficult and what he said in his testimony was devastating. He said, i did not think it was proper to demand that a Foreign Government investigate a us citizen. The us citizen hes referring to is, of course, Donald Trumps democratic rivaljoe biden and his son hunter over his business dealings, and he said there was no National Security justification for turning ukraine into a partisan issue, which it shouldnt be, and he said that the president s interest in ukraine and joe biden predated this particular phone call. In other words, he has flatly contradicting in other words, he has flatly contradicted what the president has said. Not only that, the white house has tried to put a ban on officials giving evidence to this impeachment investigation. They have given evidence and it hasnt been favourable to the president. Jon sopel in washington. Also making news today lebanons Prime Minister, saad hariri, has said he will resign in the face of huge protests that have rocked the country for almost two weeks. In his announcement, mr hariri said lebanon was deadlocked and needed a shock to break the crisis. He was met with cheers from protesters in beirut, who have been demonstrating against political corruption and economic uncertainty. 1. 5 Million People in california are set to lose power on tuesday as wildfires threaten to damage cables across the state. The Electric Company pacific gas and electric has already cut power to almost one Million Properties in a bid to reduce the fires. Strong winds have been fanning the fires and thousands of residents in los angeles have been told to evacuate. Two brothers are being hunted by the uk police on suspicion of manslaughter over the deaths of 39 people found in a lorry in south east england. Ronan hughes and Christopher Hughes from Northern Ireland are also wanted on suspicion of human trafficking. The driver of the lorry appeared in court on monday charged with several offences, including 39 counts of manslaughter. A mountaineer from nepal has broken records by climbing the worlds fourteen highest peaks in less than seven months. Nirmal purja, whos 36 and a former british marine, reached the top of his last mountain, shishapangma in china on tuesday morning. Nirmal could have been faster, though. He climbed everest, lhotse and makalu in five days instead of three because he stopped for two nights to have a drink. Well be speaking to nirmal purja on bbc world on friday after his descent to hear how he achieved this incredible feat. Congratulations. He achieved this incredible feat. That he achieved this incredible feat. Is certainly an incr achievement. That is certainly an incredible achievement. You are watching you on the bbc, live from singapore and london. Still to come on the programme the 4,000 year old relaxation technique, using gongs to cleanse the mind, thats suddenly popular with millennials in singapore. Indira gandhi, ruler of the Worlds Largest democracy, died today. 0nly yesterday shed spoken of dying in the service of her country and said, i would be proud of it. Every drop of my blood would contribute to the growth of this nation. After 46 years of unhappiness, these two countries have concluded a chapter of history. No more suspicion, no more fear, no more uncertainty of what each day might bring. Booster ignition and lift off of discovery, with a crew of six astronaut heroes and one american legend. Well, enjoying the show is right. This is beautiful. A milestone in human history. Born today, this girl in india is the 7 billionth person on the planet. Welcome back, everyone. This is newsday on the bbc. Im rico hizon in singapore. Thanks for staying with us. Im kasia madera in london. Our top stories mps in britain have voted overwhelmingly for a snap general election in december, as brexit is delayed. The impeachment investigation into donald trump hears from an official who says he personally heard the us president pressure ukraine to investigate leading democratjoe biden. Lets take a look at some front pages from around the world. We turn to the united states. Us lawmakers have fired tough questions at the boss of boeing, about the companys response to two fatal crashes involving its 737 max airliner. Its exactly one year since a lion air aircraft crashed into the java sea, killing all 189 people on board. Five months later, an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed, killing 157. The finger has been pointed at the planes Flight Control system. Laura trevelyan reports from washington. Hold up the photographs that you brought. Images of those killed by the crashes of boeing 737 max aircraft held up by relatives at a senate hearing. Lawmakers told the families they could only imagine the pain they had endured. For boeing ceo dennis muilenburg, this was a chance to apologise. On behalf of myself and the boeing company, we are sorry, deeply and truly sorry. The first 737 max crashed into the java sea a year ago, killing 189 people and a second 737 max crashed in ethiopia five months later with the loss of 157 lives. Lawmakers wanted to know when boeings boss knew test pilots had concerns about the Flight Control system back in 2016. It was after the crashes, you were made aware of it . Sir, as i recall, i believe it was prior to the second crash. After the second 737 max crash in ethiopia, flight regulators around the world started to ground the aircraft and its still grounded here in the us as boeing try to figure out what went wrong. Weve made mistakes and we got some things wrong. We are improving and we are learning and we are continuing to learn. But lawmakers werent convinced. I would walk before i would get on a 737 max. These people never had a chance, they were in flying coffins. These hearings are about preventing future accidents. Lawmakers want to know if the plane was approved for passenger flights before it was ready. Laura trevelyan, bbc news, washington. Japans Prime Minister has called it a national crisis, while the south Korean Leader says its a problem that needs urgent fixing. Birth rates in many Asian Countries are plummeting to historic lows. New statistics released in singapore for 2018 show that the average woman will have 1. 2 children. Thats the lowest since records began. In south korea, the fertility rate has gone below the one child mark for the first time ever. And japan, in 2018, saw the lowest number of births in the countrys history. While in china the birth rate is at its lowest since 1961 thats despite the one child policy being scrapped five years ago. For more on this, ive been speaking to professor mary brinton, a sociologist at Harvard University whos done Extensive Research in this field. She started by explaining the problems men face in participating fully in family life. Participating fully in their family, participating at home and i think this is very much affecting the quality of family life and is discouraging to many people. I am sure it is also the pressure of work. The standard of living, that puts a lot of pressure on parents to just have possibly one or two children. That is right. Typically in japan, marriage means children. So there are very few births outside of marriage. Couples who marry plan to have at least one child, maybe two but as you pointed out, work hours are long. Very long in both korea and japan. And this means that men who presumably have very good jobs in Large Companies often dont come home until nine or ten pm. So the family rarely eats dinner together on weekdays and men. Sorry. Can the government do anything about it or is the bottom line up to the couple . I think the government can do much more about it. Many of the policies that the japanese government has established a not working and some new policies are needed. For example, paternity leave is now available to japanese men but only about 5 of men take it. And my feeling is that Japanese Companies should be required to give new fathers paternity leave. This would create, you know, a lot of momentum. Do you agree . Let us know. That was professor mary brinton from Harvard University. There are plenty of ways to relax and zone out, but how about lying down whilst somebody hits a gong . Thats the idea of a gong bath which is a sound bath that cleanses the mind and the body. Its a tradition that goes back 4,000 years, but suraya sams 90 minute sessions are popular with millennials in singapore. We caught up with suraya to find out more. It clea nses it cleanses the mines, the body. Mind. Why is it called a gong bath . Its because theres a sound bath. You are nourished through the frequency. So you are basically showered with 90 minutes of gong. Singaporeans or generally this city is always so, theyre rushing to time, they are on their phones, they are always chatting or e mailing and they forget about their surroundings. So the gong that is right in front of me is the earth gong. The earth gong will ground you and the saturn gong will uplift you. The moon gong is basically four expelling negativity or any sale energy. We do breath work, we do sound bath. Id do take people on a sound bath. Id do take people on a sound journey. Id definitely feel responsible for bringing an ancient tradition to this error. Era. Sounds good. Good buy from us. Hello there. It is interesting that although the rain has stopped across most parts of the country and the sun has been out we still had quite a few flood warnings on rivers in england that have only slowly gone down. Further south we have seen most of rain today in the south west corner of england where it has been windy. But this blanket of cloud is affecting other southern parts of england and pushing into south wales as well. We could see that rain notjust affecting devon and cornwall, pushing towards hampshire maybe into the far south of wales stop north of that, clear skies, light winds and a couple of showers. Where cloud stays, temperatures will be on the higher side and as you further north the temperature gets colder. Clear skies and light wind in northern scotland to places will have a touch of frost. Maybe one or two mist and fog patches as well. Here we are close to this area of High Pressure that has been dominating our weather over the last few days. It is still essentially in charge that is getting squeezed by the weather fronts on the south west that are continuing to bring patchy rain and drizzle. Again that will mainly be affecting the south west of england. That cloud shield may push way for the northwoods across wales and towards the midlands. Sunnier skies continue further north and fewer showers across eastern scotland and north east england where the wind should be lighter. Breeze picks up in Northern Ireland and eases later in the south west of england where we have that rain. 13 degrees is the temperature otherwise 9 11, similar to today. The weather is slowly changing later on this week because the High Pressure will ease away into Continental Europe and those weather fronts. To work their way into the uk. Very week on thursday so there will not be much rain, pocket of light rain and drizzle perhaps in Northern Ireland, more likely pushing across england and wales full with milder air coming in over the cold ground it could turn rather misty and murky. Temperatures generally ten, 11 degrees, not changing a lotjust yet and brighter whether across northern and eastern scotland. Mild air will come in as the wind changes to more of a south, south westerly but the next weather system coming in from the atlantic and the one after that is probably a little more active so we will find rain more widely across the uk, temperatures at 15 or 16 degrees. By day it will be milder with a lot more cloud around and not im kasia madera with bbc world news. Our top story mps in britain have voted overwhelmingly to hold a snap general election in december. Prime minister Boris Johnson says he hopes the poll will stop further delays to brexit. The measure still needs the approval of the upper house. Us politicians accuse boeing of putting profit before safety, as the company boss testifies before a Senate Committee over the 737 max plane crashes. And this story is widley read on bbc. Com an estimated 1. 5 Million People in california are set to lose power on tuesday as a utility firm tries to stop damaged cables triggering wildfires. Strong winds have been fanning the fires, and thousands of residents in los angeles have been told to evacuate. Thats all. Stay with bbc world news. Now on bbc news,