this is bbc news, i'm nicholas owen. the headlines at 7pm: president trump says he'll strengthen links with allies in the pacific region following north korea's latest missile launch. the house of commons speaker, john bercow, insists he's impartial — no matter how he voted in the eu referendum. labour's deputy leader, tom watson, denies the party has been considering possible successors tojeremy corbyn. a group of retired bishops accuses church of england leaders of suppressing the views of gay christians. also in the next hour — hollywood royaltyjoin british royalty at this year's baftas. they've braved the winter weather to attend the biggest awards night for uk film at the royal albert hall. and france beat scotland in their six nations match in paris — we'll have full details of this and all of today's other action in sportsday at 7.30pm. good evening and

welcome to bbc news. america and japan have strongly condemned north korea, for test—firing a ballistic missile, the first such launch since donald trump entered the white house. japan's prime minister shinzo abe said it was "intolerable," while mr trump said the us would back japan 100 percent. the missile flew for about three hundred miles, eventually falling into the sea of japan. this report from our tokyo correspondent rupert wingfield hayes contains some flash photography. this is the launch of a musudan ballistic missile, the same type that was fired from north korea into the sea of japan earlier this morning.

today's launch was almost certainly timed so that north korea's dictator, kim jong—un, could crash a weekend party taking place on the other side of the world. president donald trump and japan's prime minister, shinzo abe, have been spending the weekend golfing in florida. mr abe was not amused by the north korean intrusion. translation: north korea's recent missile launch is absolutely intolerable. north korea must fully comply with the relevant united nations security council resolutions. in his response, president trump seemed less certain. even neglecting to condemn the north korean launch. thank you very much, mr prime minister. i just want everybody to understand and fully know that the united states of america stands behind japan, its great ally, 100%. thank you. kim jong—un recently promised to test a much more powerful

intercontinental missile. president trump has fouled that will not happen, but it's not clear how he intends to stop it. —— has vowed. north korea already has short—range missiles capable of hitting south korea, and medium—range missiles capable of hitting japan. the musudan is an intermediate range missile, which may be able to hit us bases in guam. the ultimate goal is a so—called icbm, able to hit parts of the united states and australia. for more than 20 years, the outside world has been trying to stop north korea, with tighter and tighter sanctions. but it has been a complete failure. the border with china remains open, and trade is flourishing. the us and its allies will now move to tighten sanctions further, and accelerate the deployment of new anti—missile systems in south korea and japan,

but no one seems to have any idea how to stop north korea from becoming a fully fledged nuclear missile armed state. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. graham hutchings from the oxford analytica think tank has written extensively on china and the asia pacific rim. hejoins us from our oxford newsroom. good evening to you. this is a big test for president trump but terribly difficult to see how he or anyone else can move this situation forward. affair conjecture president romagna doesn't know what to do yet, after the administration has hardly bedded down. very noticeable and notable that new defence minister went to seoul for that new defence minister went to seoulfor his that new defence minister went to seoul for his first foreign visit last week and spoke about the need to do something about north korea

and then went to japan. now we have in the middle of the party that is currently underway in florida with the japanese prime minister and us president, this move by north korea. sanctions have achieved zero, as your report suggested. there is some headroom for other measures, perhaps squeezing the financial system, the dollar system, in as far as that benefits north korea, but it doesn't look as if that is going to deliver what's required here. what are north korea's basic motives here, do you think? survival. if there is one thing the north korean state has done rather well, it survived. you couldn't say it has prospered although the economy seems to be in better shape, as far as we can tell, than it has beenin as far as we can tell, than it has been in several years. its survival is remarkable. it goes back to the 19405, it is remarkable. it goes back to the 1940s, it has lost principal allies, had famine and had succession problems and various other issues. it wants to continue to survive. it

wa nts it wants to continue to survive. it wants respect, it wants a living space in the international arena and it believes that pursuit of nuclear cap capabilities as a way to achieve that. what about china's role in all of this? bearing in mind we now have this new president, mr trump, who has had various things about china, where does that put them? china does not much like what has been happening in pyongyang, ever since kim jong—un took over there. it's conspicuous either because he hasn't been invited or he has declined to go, he hasn't made the customary visit to china. customary in the sense that his predecessors did. china, however, doesn't want to see the collapse of that state. it has a lock vested in that. it has a lock vested in the security and stability of the korean peninsula. it's going to be rather careful and cautious. it will be happy to open up cautious. it will be happy to open upa cautious. it will be happy to open up a conversation with the new president of the united states to see what could be done but i think mr drug—macro would be well advised

not to expect too much, certainly in the short—term. not to expect too much, certainly in the short-term. mr trump. thank you. and we'll getting the reaction from washington to the north korea ballistic missile test shortly with our correspondent there david willis and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30pm this evening evening in the papers. our guestsjoining me tonight are tony grew, the parliamentaryjournalist and caroline frost — entertainment editor of the huffington post. the speaker of the house of commons john bercow, insists he remains impartial in performing his duties,despite saying he voted remain in the eu referendum. the revelation has led to repeated calls for him to stand down, as chris mason reports. the speaker, a role with a history dating back to at least the 14th century. order, order. sitting between the political

parties, chairing debates, but, for the second time in a week, it'sjohn bercow‘s opinions that have generated attention. talking to stu d e nts generated attention. talking to students at the university of reading he said eu migration had been a good thing. and added... this may not be popular with some people in this audience, personally i voted to remain. i thought it was better to stay the european union than not. john bercow had already irritated some by accusing president trump of racism and sexism. i would not wish to issue an invitation to president trump. some mps loved that but his critics are repeating he must be replaced. i'm incredibly surprised that the speaker now has expressed views on a number of issues, an brexit, an immigration, an state visit, on diplomacy. he is incapable of impartially chairing debates in the

house of commons now and must go. and ally of the speaker told me he didn't speak out during the referendum campaign and is scrupulously fair when chairing debates. plenty of mps agree. i'm confident thatjohn bercow has the numbers and support across the parties to see off this attempt by a handful of crusty tories to unseat him. and those in government remained supportive as well. i have more than six years of europe ministerunder i have more than six years of europe minister under david cameron, and in that time i never found the speaker was shy of calling lots of people who were critical of the eu to ask difficult questions. the speaker'sjob difficult questions. the speaker's job description is clear. he is obliged to be politically impartial, but, for now at least, doesn't appear to be at much risk of being toppled. chris mason, bbc news. now — labour's deputy leader, tom watson, says the party's leadership is "settled for this parliament". speaking to the bbc this morning, mr watson played down reports that labour is using focus groups to test

out the popularity of alternative candidates tojeremy corbyn. he said that this was "not the time" for another leadership election. joining me is now is our political correspondent chris mason. you heard his report earlier on matters of the speaker. jeremy corbyn's future. a day doesn't go past without it being mentioned somewhere or other and put in doubt. and pretty much ever since he was first elected labour leader at the running theme has always been how long will he last? there was a conclusion, if you like, at the end of his first year in office he would last a little longer because he won again and won easily in the labour leadership contest of last summer. things then went a little quiet because the assumption was therefore he would be able to stay as long as he would be able to stay as long as he chose to. what we've now got is a discussion that is going on at westminster, both privately and occasionally in public, about whether he may at some stage choose

to stand down, rather than being toppled by an internal challenge. as you say, tom watson appearing on the andrew marr show this morning insisting that second leadership election win forjeremy corbyn has cleared the issue and he will stick around until after the next election. we've had a tough 18 months, er, we had a damaging second leadership election, so we've got an uphill struggle ahead, the polls aren't great for us, but i'm determined now that we've got the leadership settled for this parliament, that we can focus on developing a very positive clear message to the british people in the general election. tom watson talking to andrew marr this morning. you could hear in that tone fair, the position that labour finds itself in as a party, talking about an uphill struggle. you look at the opinion polls and yes, we should a lwa ys opinion polls and yes, we should always insert that caveat that opinion polls so often recently have been proven to be spectacularly wrong but labour are a country mile behind the opinion polls. the polls could still be very wrong and they

would still be behind. enter ian labrie, a labour who appeared on radio five live this morning, then you campaigns coordinator. he said something that didn't quite chime with what tom watson the same. so, in the context of these upcoming by—elections he said the party was pretty confident, but talks about a potential loss of either of those seats, which labour has held pretty much forever as potential pick—ups, which is understating the loss for them. he then said, a very interesting quote, "there's plenty of readers to pick from if and when jeremy decides of his own volition that it's not for him at the election. that isn't the case at this point in time." he was floating publicly the idea thatjeremy corbyn could choose, as he says of his own volition, that he might not want to fightan volition, that he might not want to fight an election. that is to articulate something publicly that sometimes labour will float

privately. so that is something to watch. this is a guy who has been in post as the campaign coordinator for only 48 hours. it's not usually the kind of language you would use publicly to describe their potentials shelf life of your boss. a few names are around. give us a couple if you can. the names that tend to float to the surface, angela rayner, rebecca long bailey, two shadow cabinet ministers, subject is some discussion in the sunday times today. the suggestion that has been some internal succession planning going on, where the party gets a group together and shows the video of these people and says what you think of this? labour says these focus groups were not about succession planning but normal policy planning. clive lewis is the other name mentioned. he resigned from the shadow cabinet last week over those brexit votes in the commons. so yes, yet again there is

speculation about who might be the next leader of the labour party. swirling around. chris mason, thank you. returning to that ballistic missile test by north korea. we can get the latest reaction from washington. the test came as japan's prime minister shinzo abe was in talks with president trump. our correspondent david willis is in washington — and joins me now. this is interesting, for many reasons, but particularly as a challenge to the new president. how does he approached this subject, bearing in mind that many, many complications of that part of the world? absolutely. north korea picked its moment, didn't it? when a meeting with taking place between the leaders of two of its sworn enemies, the united states and japan. how does the united states respond? so far donald trump and his senior lieutenants have confined their reactions to an offering pledge of

support to allies, such as japan, but where they go from here isn't clear at the moment. donald trump had various things to say about north korea whilst he was campaigning for office. he said that kim jong—un was a bad dude, as campaigning for office. he said that kimjong—un was a bad dude, as he put it and also said he was potentially who he could sit down with them negotiate over a hamburger. so it remains to be seen precisely whether the united states follows the course of the obama administration, which of course was rather torturous and didn't really lead anywhere, or whether it opts for a policy of direct confrontation with north korea. previous efforts by presidents, going back to george bush senior, of sanctions and talks and so on, have really got nowhere as far as north korea is concerned, so it may come down to china, its

leverage to bear on north korea as the main supplier of food and energy to that country, as the tactic that the trump administration goes for now. but previous efforts, even with china, have proved pretty fruitless. the chinese influence over north korea somewhat limited. david willetts, thank you. let's come back to domestic issues. it is bafta made. the 70th anniversary. all the attention being paid on who is winning and who gets what. we have just paid on who is winning and who gets what. we havejust had paid on who is winning and who gets what. we have just had the first announcement. the outstanding british film that has been picked is i. british film that has been picked is i, daniel blake. that wins the outstanding british film award. it was directed by ken loach.

throughout the evening, the intention is to bring you the latest from the baftas as the prizes are announced. an enormous number of very well—known people have been on the red carpet. lots of movies being celebrated and we are looking for winners. we will bring you them as they come through in the course of they come through in the course of the evening. the whole event is being attended by the juke and duchess of cambridge, prince william and his wife adding that special touch of celebrity lustre. —— the duke and duchess. the headlines on bbc news: the white house has responded to north korea's latest ballistic missile test by vowing to stand by its allies in the region to deter what it called the menace of kim jong—un's regime. the speaker of the house of commons, john bercow, has insisted he remains impartial in performing his duties, despite saying he voted remain in the eu referendum. labour's deputy leader, tom watson, has said the party's leadership is "settled for this parliament".

protests in a suburb of paris turned violent overnight at a demonstration in support of a young black man allegedly raped by a police officer earlier this month. tear gas was fired to disperse the crowds during clashes and 37 people were arrested. the alleged victim of the rape, a 22—year—old social worker, has appealed for calm after several days of protests. others with assault, in connection with the attack. fire crews in germany had to temporarily evacuate hamburg airport after the spread of an unknown hazardous material left dozens of people needing hospital treatment. both terminals were closed and flights stopped after numerous complaints of coughs and eye irritation. firefighters later said they found an empty cartridge probably containing pepper spray for self—defence use. 14 retired anglican bishops have

accused the church of ignoring the views of gay christians. in an open letter, they said an official report into the church of england's position on homosexuality didn't contain "authentic voices" from the gay and lesbian community. the letter comes ahead of meeting of the general synod later this week, the body which approves church law. here's our religious affairs correspondent, martin bashir. if the church of england was tempted to believe that its recent report on same—sex marriage had settled the matter, then this letter is an indication that the issue is still tearing at the heart of church unity. the peace of the lord be always with you. and also with you. the letter says that the house of bishops report, which maintains that marriage is between a man and a woman, is not sufficiently inclusive. one of the signatories says members

of the lgbt community have been betrayed by the process. the people who entered those conversations knowing that they would have to reveal themselves in a circumstance in which that might carry a price, in terms of their life, and their career, and they feel that what has come out here is a betrayal in the specific sense that their voice is not heard. for some attending morning worship in leeds, it is time for same—sex marriage to be allowed in church. the community of lgbti people has not been fully heard. and ijust think that is a terrible sadness in terms of the broad life of the church. so long ago people could change their mind about slavery, even though it was in the bible.

why can't they realise that we are real people who have real relationships? but for evangelical christians, even those who may be same—sex attracted, the critical issue is not inclusiveness, but obedience to scripture and tradition. the teaching of the bible says all of us are broken in different ways. all of us are broken in our sexuality, in fact. whether that is heterosexual or homosexual, all of us have sexual desires that we all need to say no to, for the sake of our integrity as christian disciples. together in your image. the house of bishops has called for a change in tone and mutual respect. that will be put to the test on wednesday when members of general synod will debate the issue. more than 200 pilot whales stranded on a remote beach in new zealand are heading back out to sea with the help of a high tide. they were part of a second pod of whales beached

at farewell spit on south island. conservation officials say there's a chance the surviving whales may still turn back to the beach. just to warn you, you might find some of the scenes in this report by virginia langerberg distressing. weary volunteers form a human chain to help guide the remaining few whales out to sea with the help of a high tide. justjoy, just complete happiness that they're in the water floating. and they look like they are going out, so we're obviously making sure that they don't come back. this time, rescuers are buoyed by the success of saving most of this pod. it's been a pretty full—on couple of days, to be honest. on the remote coastline of golden bay, it had been a exhausting case of deja vu, after a second pod of about 200 pilot whales had become stranded just days after a group of more

than 400 whales had accidentally beached themselves. the incident was new zealand's la rgest—known whale stranding since 1985 and the third largest on record. of the pod which became stranded on thursday, around 300 died before rescuers could reach them. while in the latest pod to get stuck on farewell spit, 20 whales in a bad condition needed to be put down to stop those refloated from coming back to shore. i'm pretty unhappy myself, but that is the job and it needs to be done, just to stop those other ones coming in. conservationists aren't certain why beaching happens. one theory is that the shallow waters confuse the whales. golden bay's shoreline now a mass whale graveyard as officials try to determine the best way to dispose of the carcasses. the surviving whales have been tagged, and we can only hope won't get stuck again in the murky waters of farewell spit, which is proving to be one

of new zealand's greatest hazards for the pilot whale. virginia langerberg, bbc news. we bringing you the results of the bafta awards as they're coming in. we had won a few moments the outstanding british film, i, daniel blake. the rising star award, which goes to one individual and is voted on by the general public, that goes to british actor tom holland. he is carving out a great early career in hollywood. he is the new spiderman, for example. the rising star award at the baftas goes to tom holland. the biggest awards night for british film, the baftas, is getting under way at the royal albert hall in london with hundreds of fans queuing to see the contenders arrive on the red carpet. la la land leads the way with 11 nominations, and i, daniel blake has won the

outstanding british film prize. the duke and duchess of cambridge have also joined the stars at the ceremony. prince william will present the bafta fellowship, which is awarded annually to an individual in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, television or games. british and hollywood film royalty are braving the london cold and making their way up the red carpet for this year's bafta ceremony. earlier, our correspondent lizo mzimba spoke to some of the stars on the red carpet. iamjoined by i am joined by one of the most famous names in cinema, daisy ridley. you are the narrator of the eagle hunters. you're going to present an award tonight, best documentary. what is it like, you are used to award ceremonies?” documentary. what is it like, you are used to award ceremonies? i am not. i have not done a really big

red carpet along time. it is surreal. last year was the oscars. it is amazing being on british soil, especially doing a film in britain, with people who are kind and excited. that documentary, another great story about the empowerment of the young female? i did not sign on because i thought this was a great story about a female. i loved the film. it is a similar thing, i am very happy to be speaking about. we finally have the title to the next star wars movie. ayoub glad the secret is out and you're not in danger of giving it away? hilariously, my trainer, who has trained me for all the films, he was saying, they have released the title. i was like, what? saying, they have released the title. iwas like, what? i saying, they have released the title. i was like, what? i thought it was my secret, then it was all over the internet. i missed the

hide. i almost forgot what the title was. i thought, hide. i almost forgot what the title was. ithought, if hide. i almost forgot what the title was. i thought, if i hide. i almost forgot what the title was. ithought, if i put hide. i almost forgot what the title was. i thought, if i put it to the back of my mind, i will not slip up. it is out there and exciting. how difficult is it keeping all those secrets? the film is not out to december and you've finished filming months ago? we did. i have been filling my time with many other things. now i am concentrating on murder on the orient express. it is weird, itjust gets easier. seven was harder. people are lasting less questions about this one. —— people are asking. it is quite exciting, it is fun keeping it. thank you, they are shouting for you. have a lovely evening. thank you. i amjoined by are shouting for you. have a lovely evening. thank you. i am joined by a man who is a double nominee this evening. nocturnalanimals man who is a double nominee this evening. nocturnal animals has nine nominations but you have two, one for adapted screenplay and one for direction, tom ford. you adapted this from a book. yes, by a great

writer called austin writer is u nfortu nately writer called austin writer is unfortunately no longer with us. how ha rd unfortunately no longer with us. how hard was it to make its cinematic, because you changed a lot?|j hard was it to make its cinematic, because you changed a lot? i did have to change a lot but the story spoke to me. it is about loyalty, hanging on to people in your life that you love are not letting them go. iama that you love are not letting them go. i am a loyal person, i have been with the same person for 30 years. that spoke to me. i did have to make some alterations to take an internal monologue in the book and make it cinematic. how much of yourself did you put into the amy adams character? i put myself into every character? i put myself into every character when you're writing a screenplay. something has to speak to you personally. you have to exaggerate that when you're working. thank you for speaking to us. nicole kidman, the best supporting actress nomination for lion. an incredible story. so emotional. what was your reaction when you first heard it? when i first heard it? about the story? i read it and i was

moved by it. then i found out it was a true story. i was gobsmacked that it had actually happened. then i got to be in the film. the director asked me, and he said, would you like to play this part. she really wa nts you like to play this part. she really wants you to —— really wants you to play. that is always a lovely thing. do you feel more pressure when you're portraying person? sorry, what was the question? do you feel more pressure when europe are trying a real—life person? more pressure when europe are trying a real-life person? i do not know if it is more pressure, ifeel a sense of obligation and responsibility to be true to their spirit and essence, to try to fulfil what they want, because it is their life. in this case, luckily sunu was very embracing, very comforting and supportive. thank you for your time.

that is lizo mzimba with some of the stars and the red—carpet. we are getting more and more awards coming through. on bbc one this morning —— this evening from nine o'clock, there will be a programme devoted to there will be a programme devoted to the baftas. if you do not want to know results in advance, fingers in your ears or look another way. do not listen to what i'm going to tell you. we have the winner of the make up you. we have the winner of the make up and hear category. it goes to people who help to make up the head of somebody called meryl streep, who the new president of the united states was a bit disparaging about. she was in florence fosterjenkins. that gets the award. i do not know whether it is the hero belonging to people here. there is meryl streep, certainly looking quite dazzling in her usual way.