welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm ben bland. our top stories: the south korean defence ministry says north korea has fired a missile into the sea of japan. in his latest attack on judges, president trump says the american legal system is broken, as he fights with them over his travel ban. first, some breaking news. north korea has test—fired another ballistic missile, its first since donald trump became us president. it was launched just before 8am local time from an air base in panghyon province, and flew about 500 kilometres east into the sea of japan. it's not clear what kind of missile was used. the south korean military says it could have been an intermediate—range musudan missile, but other sources suggest it was more likely to be an older scud or nodong rocket.

the north conducted two nuclear tests and a several rocket launches last year in its attempt to create a viable nuclear weapon. the reports come as president trump hosts japan's prime minister, shinzo abe, in florida. on friday, following talks in washington, the two leaders agreed that the nuclear threat from north korea was a high priority. president trump says he is considering new measures to restrict immigration. the president is hosting the japanese prime minister, shinzo abe in florida. but his weekend of golf and dining is also dominated by questions over what comes next from his policy on immigration. if you remember, the original order banned citizens from seven mainly muslim countries from the united states. that for now, has been overturned in the courts. but mr trump told reporters on air force one that a new order could be issued as early as monday. and he hasn't ruled out an appeal to the supreme court either. with more here's our washington correspondent, david willis. president trump spent most of the

day in the company of the japanese prime minister, shinzo abe, staying at what has become known as the winter white house, donald trump's florida retreat. they took to the national golf course in the morning. that did not prevent donald trump from tweeting this. in his weekly address to the nation, donald trump said he believed urgent action was needed to protect the united states from the threat of terrorism. we will continue to fight to take all necessary and legal action to keep radical and dangerous islamic terrorists from ever entering our country. we will not allow our generous system of immigration to be turned against us for terrorism and truly bad people. donald trump has

said he is now looking beyond the legal system for a means of implementing his travel ban. that may include filing a revised executive order which addresses the judges concerns. among them, the fa ct judges concerns. among them, the fact that the september 11 attacks at the exception, no one has been killed by a citizen of any of the countries mentioned in the ban in us oil. changing the order would be similarto admit in oil. changing the order would be similar to admit in that the order was easily overturned. but with challenges mounting in courts all over the land, starting all over again may prove the busiest and perhaps only solution. david willis, bbc news, washington. —— easiest. well, staying in the region, in afghanistan, at least six people have been killed and many more wounded in a blast in southern

helmand province. the explosion took place in the provincial capital, lashkar gah, the taliban has said it was behind the attack. a spokesperson for the regional governor told the bbc that the attacker drove a car into an afghan national army vehicle parked near a bank. with the latest, here's our correspondent from the capital, kabul. the target was a bank where mostly government employees come every month to collect their salaries. and it is seen as a soft target because this particular bank has been targeted in a similar manner a few years ago. after a few hours, the taliban claimed responsibility, saying the target was afghan national army personnel. helmand has been the subject of heavy fighting in the past few months, even in the months of winter there's been sporadic fighting in the province where it is said 80% of it is now under taliban control. helmand is a strategic province both for the taliban and the government. come summer, it is assumed the fighting will become even more intense. stay with us on bbc news.

still to come: in new zealand, more than 200 stranded whales have re—floated themselves and are back at sea, say conservationists. let's get more on that report of a missile test by north korea. bruce bennett is a senior defence analyst at rand corporation. he's in los angeles. a lot of conflicting reports around about the details surrounding this. what do we know for certain at this stage? not a whole lot at this point. we know that the missile was launched from the panghyon air base in north korea, fairly far north of pyongyang we know it travelled about

500 kilometres and that it wound up on what the koreans referred to as the east sea, the sea ofjapan. that kind of range could be a scud, musudan, or nodong, but more likely the nodong or the scud. what is the significance of the types you have mentioned? the significance of the types you have mentioned ? the latest significance of the types you have mentioned? the latest from reuters is that according to a us official, they do not think it was an intercontinental ballistic missile. they do not think it was. even with the shorter range musudan, about 3000 kilometres compared to 6— 10,000 kilometres for an icbm, you would have to fire that about 100 kilometres in the air so that it would only travel about 500 kilometres straight over the ground. so if it was an icbm, it would have

to go very, very high. and that is probably not what happened here. normally it is a scud missile that travels that kind of distance, that is what north korea has been doing. they are fairly reliable. and i think kim jong—un did they are fairly reliable. and i think kimjong—un did not want they are fairly reliable. and i think kim jong—un did not want to have a fairly at this point, its first missile launch in almost four months. what do you make of the timing of it, bruce? there are several aspects of the timing. they have not been testing because of the crisis going on in south korea over the south korean president being impeached. he does not want to influence the people in south korea to support a conservative replacement. but i think he is also anxious to take some action against the trump administration. and coming up the trump administration. and coming up in march, there will be a major exercise in south korea, and he would very much not like that. and soi would very much not like that. and so i think he is reacting to several

things at the same time. and what about the fact this has happened while the japanese prime minister, shinzo abe, is being hosted by president trump in line? well, kim jong—un really likes to have media visibility. —— in florida. . what he has done is desert visibility from the donald trump and shinzo abe meeting, which is exactly what he wa nts to meeting, which is exactly what he wants to do. —— divert. he chose this time, it seems, to have that kind of effect. in terms of how this co m pa res to kind of effect. in terms of how this compares to previous missile test that north korea has carried out, do we ta ke that north korea has carried out, do we take anything from the type of missile that we think this is, and what can we draw from that in comparison? i mean, is it of greater or lesser concern than previous tests ? or lesser concern than previous tests? last year, north korea did roughly 35 ballistic missile tests.

that is a large number. it was across the range of missiles they have. until we know what kind of missile it is, good question. we do not know for sure. if it really was an intermediate range ballistic missile, after seven failures out of eight last year, for another one to succeed would be a big deal. if it is instead a scud or a nodong, this is instead a scud or a nodong, this is just is instead a scud or a nodong, this isjust a is instead a scud or a nodong, this is just a pattern of successes, something he thought he could do. thank you very much, bruce, speaking live to us from los angeles. let's go to iraq now where clashes in the iraqi capital, baghdad, have left at least five people dead. the trouble broke out between the security forces and supporters of the powerful shia muslim cleric muqtada al—sadr. it happened during a demonstration against government corruption. alan johnston reports. huge numbers of demonstraters convergd on a square in the heart of baghdad. they chanted anti—government slogans. they complained of corruption and demanded changes to a commission which oversees elections.

then some protesters tried to move towards a nearby area known as the green zone, which houses government ministries. riot police were determined to drag them back, and the deadly violence erupted. video images from the scene show tear gas filling the air and the sound of explosions and gunfire can be heard. alan johnston, bbc news. it's been a tumultuous few weeks in central italy, which has been hit by earthquakes, heavy snow and landslides. last month, four quakes above magnitude five struck in just a day, isolating villages and leaving thousands of families without power. now, snow in the abruzzo region, just east of rome, is melting and causing sudden flooding and yet more landslides. david campa nale reports. landslides and sinkholes have struck across the abruzzo region after heavy snowfalls, rains and earthquakes. the mountain village of bisenti

expects weeks of complete isolation after two landslides blocked the only access roads. even as emergency workers assess the resulting damage, a ridge collapsed, sweeping away part of a provincial road in a few seconds. snow reached two metres in height in this valley and melting caused heavy rains. a collapse ten metres in diameter and ten metres deep has opened on one of the main streets leading to the historic centre of chieti, which has been badly hit in recent weeks. local administrators don't blame seismic or meteorological events, but point to lack of funds for maintenance. translation: from 2012 to now a series of natural disasters hit the city and it seriously affected the infrastructure. unfortunately this series of disasters means the municipality

must continuously deliver exceptional funds for previous disasters, as of 2012 or the flood of 2015. to address this last snowfall we have no funds. we lack funds. in many roads in these central italian regions the asphalt has crumbled, so it's difficult even to pass through on foot. david campanale, bbc news. anti—government protesters in romania have turned out for the 12th day running to demand the resignation of the social democrat—led administration. protesters fear that proposed laws redefining corruption offences will revive much of a government decree that was scrapped just a week ago. they're calling for country's prime minister to leave office as greg dawson reports. the crowds may have thinned from a week ago but several thousand remain outside the parliaments in bucharest. what began as protests against plans to decriminalise some corruption offences has begun a movement with a much bigger ambition. i think this is our revolution. i think.

we hope it's a new revolution to change something in this country, to change the mentality because enough is enough! the government only took office a month ago and said the law change was needed to reduce the prison population. but protesters said it was a measure designed to help some politicians avoid jail time. after facing the largest demonstrations in his country since the fall of communism, romania's prime minister, sorin grindeanu, eventually backed down and agreed to scrap the decree. but his opponents say he can't be trusted and has to go. they've even got the backing of romania's president, klaus iohannis, who voiced his support for the demonstrators. but that in turn has now triggered rival pro—government protests. around 300 demonstrators rallied outside the presidential palace. they say they back their new government and are angry at the president's involvement. he divided romania.

he has no right. no! not at all! please. our president, help romania, help us to work, to be together. on wednesday, the government survived a no—confidence motion in the romanian parliament and the prime minister made clear he has no intention of leaving. but nor do the protesters, who are promising a much bigger rally on sunday night to make their point. greg dawson, bbc news. h your honouren countries could

struggle to maintain a united front during brex nit notions according to the president, of the european commission, jean—claude juncker. so often we focus on the brexit negotiations, the stilt of some and the fears of others. he says britain could attempt to

offer something to one country and something else to another. there is a positive sense in brussels that up until now there has been an attempt to keep brussels and the eu together as one bloc and that has worked. but they fear that may no longer be the case. what of the reaction? nothing specific for the department of exiting the european union. they talked about a positive and strong relationship. there is a reminder, not like we needed, of the scale and significance to calm. just weeks to go until the uk triggers article 50 and the process of brexit begins. 50,000 people have signed a petition

urging the government not to - a bringing the the children. minister is that there are thousands of unaccompanied child refugees in europe, who are suffering terribly from greece and italy. we should ta ke from greece and italy. we should take some of them. the government should not arbitrarily close its doors. a group of conservative mps has written to the home secretary to suggest the government make the uk more welcoming for commonwealth citizens after brexit, starting with the re—organisation of border controls. they have urged amber rudd to find ways to reduce waiting times to find ways to reduce waiting times to the uk. at the moment, on arriving in the uk, british and other eu citizens are fast—tracked through one channel and commonwealth

citizens and travellers from the rest of the world are processed through another. conservative mp jake berry, who initiated the letter to the home office, explained the reasons behind it. what i hope this letter will lead to and i have discussed it with the home secretary, what i hope it will lead to is some of those small steps, like changing the signs, which could ta ke like changing the signs, which could take place in the early part of this year. we have a hugely important event. we have the first—ever commonwealth trade ministers meeting taking place in london in march. it is small steps like that to show us how important the commonwealth is to us. commonwealth countries believe that in the mid—1970s when britain turned europe, we should have turned ourface turned europe, we should have turned our face away from the commonwealth and look to europe. we need to make sure that they realise the commonwealth matters to us. in all our global conflicts the commonwealth countries have stood with us. we have huge important trade links with commonwealth countries like australia, new zealand, canada already. we need to

maximise those as global britain grows outside the european union. bolivian farmers and government officials are fighting a locust plague that's threatening to destroy pa rt plague that's threatening to destroy part of the country's harvests. it comesjust as part of the country's harvests. it comes just as agricultural areas we re comes just as agricultural areas were starting to recover from the country's worst drought in a quarter ofa country's worst drought in a quarter of a century. after 25 years of drought, water rationing, conflicts over aquifer use and slashed harvests, a plague of locusts is the last thing bolivian farmers need. recent rains relieved the effects of drought but new fears have emerged. 500,000 producers and crops have been affected by the swarm of crusts, 1% of grain farmers. translation: the authorities,

farmers, businesses and fumigation crews with working to confront this u nfortu nate crews with working to confront this unfortunate situation in santa cruz. it is devastating a lot of crop land especially small farms. it is important to act quickly. there is a risk the country's food supply could be in danger. authorities plan to fumigate 17,000 be in danger. authorities plan to fumigate17,000 hectares of lands. and argentinian experts have been brought in to assist. translation: it is going to be difficult to eradicate them but we have to stop these flying locusts. they're doing a lot of damage to agricultural production. the plague raises the issue of farming regulations. bolivian producers have lobbied for use to grow genetically modified seeds, resistant to plagues and pests. a royal navy warship has rescued 1a

sailors after their racing yacht became stranded in the atlantic. the clyde challenger yacht last its mast in rough waters on a journey back from the azores and drifted for two days. hms dragon was diverted 500 miles from a routine deployment to assist. all crew have been carried to safety. rugby, and scotland have the chance to go top of the sixations table today when they face france. to do so they will need to win and security a bonus point after england narrowly beat wales 21—16 in a dramatic six flagss game in cardiff. ireland thrashed italy 63-10 in cardiff. ireland thrashed italy 63—10 in rome, recording their biggest ever victory. a brave daffodill shows its face in february. england in cardiff. what was the other thing? oh, yes, goats. the coach had bantered about welsh

shenanigans. all clear here. roof open, heat on. nothing contrived in the eyes of the welsh captain — that's old—fashioned the eyes of the welsh captain — that's old —fashioned emotion. the eyes of the welsh captain — that's old—fashioned emotion. with all the modern scientific preparation, rugby still comes down, often, to brute strength, and determination. with half—time approaching, perfect timing... commentator: they score! now, is that what you came for? commentator: they take the lead. second half, england waiting to pounce, but, no. the england line was broken, a kick, a chase, a race, and breathless, daly won here. elliott day —— daley, the flying

finisher, england had done it again, somehow snatched the game 21—16. unbelievable. it was obviously great to believe in this team. i think that's what's exciting about hopefully what's to come. it is not the finished article. hopefully we'll just keep getting the finished article. hopefully we'lljust keep getting better and better. so england's remarkable winning run continues. but to win here, to win like that, must feel as significant asfully of those recent victories. after a first week defeat ireland did not lose again. rome, the perfect place for a break. cj stander had a hat—trick against italy, including a fourth time before half—time. 63—10. never mind consecutive victories, italy's irish coach would like one.

conservationists in new zealand say more than 200 pilot whales that have been stranded on a beach on a south island overnight have re—floated themselves overnight and are walk in themselves overnight and are walk in the sea. only a few remain. hundreds of animals died the previous day when they became stuck in the waters near farewell spit. doing whatever they can to help before it's too late. these volunteers have been working for many years, trying to keep the whales cool, as they lie stranded. signing some say singing also helps to keep them calm, but what they really need is high—tide. them calm, but what they really need is high-tide. very quickly, this tide has come racing in and now we're all up to our knees, some people are up to their waists in urd wa and we're starting to get a bit of floating happening. we are helping assist the whales with their breathing inle the water is deep enough for them to swim. this is one of the worst whale strandings in new zealand's history. 400 whales came

in to farewell spit on wednesday, but only 100 survived. and then, another 240 arrived a day later. conservationists aren't sure why beaching happens. one theory is the shallow water affects their navigation system. the eco location that's designed for deep water use and doesn't work very well in shallow water. they become confused where they end up in places like farewell spit, which is very a shallow, sandy beach. if one does get distressed and others follow in, it is difficult for them to know which way to go. but at last, there is some good fluz. most of these —— news. most of these whales managed to re—float. rescue teams will now be focused on the remaining few. as always, you can get in touch with me and most of the team here on twitter, i'm there ‘at‘ benmbland.

it's been rather chilly yont. let's it's been rather chilly yont. let's go to the weather. most of the snow that has been built up over the last 24 hours is over the high ground. thanks to our weather watcher for sending that picture in. there is the prospect of seeing the odd centimetre of snow or two across east anglier. we could be seeing 10cm of snow above 300m of celebrations, quite high up in the

pyrnnes. northern ireland starting off rather cloudy, again patches of rain, a little bit sleety over the hills. the cold win with us once again and the temperatures really struggling. the snowest weather is continuing to rugby union, takes place again on sunday. the match between france and second probably dry and around 27 degrees here, should be warmer in france than it is here in the uk. things will get a little milder over the next few days as wind switch more to a south—easterly direction. the winds won't be quite as cold.

overnight sunday night, the temperatures not quite as low for most of us. still cold enough for a sharp frost across northern scotland. for monday, looks to be a particularly windy day around our coasts and hill. those temperatures climbing but still feeling cool in that easterly wind. further north, grey and gloomy, with patchings of grey and gloomy, with patchings of grey and gloomy, with patchings of grey and drizzle. temperatures will turn milder through the middle part of the week. temperatures in london to hit 12 by wednesday. the latest headlines from bbc news: the south korean military says north korea has fired a missile into the sea of japan. the type of missile has not been identified. it's the first such test since president trump took office and it comes as the japanese prime minister visits the us. a white house official says president trump has been briefed. the us president donald trump has told reporters he could bring forward a new executive order

to replace a proposed travel ban suspended by the courts. it banned entry to citizens of seven mainly—muslim nations. in a tweet he also said the american legal system is broken. clashes in the iraqi capital, baghdad have left at least five people dead. the trouble broke out between the security forces and supporters of the shia muslim cleric, muqtada al—sadr.