hello, i'm nuala mcgovern, this is outside source. nasa has made an announcement of a new discovery. the space agency says it has found seven earth—sized exo—planets. they're located about 39 light years away from the sun. we're hearing multiple reports that the white house will revoke some obama era rules on transgender rights. we'll be live in washington. malaysian police have named a north korean diplomat as a suspect in the murder of kimjong—nam, the half—brother of north korea's leader. and a new study shows that average life expectancy in south korea could reach over 90 by 2030. nasa has announced the discovery of seven earth—sized planets beyond our solar system. they're called exoplanets — that's any planet that circles

a star other than our own sun. they're circling an "ultracool" dwarf star called trappist one, located about 39 light years away from the sun. astronomers detected three others in the system last year using nasa's spitzer space telescope. the planets are thought to be capable of having oceans, increasing the likelihood of life. the full report has just gone live on the website of international science journal nature. bbc science editor david shukman explains why this discovery is so exciting. what this latest report does is look ata what this latest report does is look at a particular star about a0 or so light years away, it is quite faint, much smaller than our sun, so it is quite easy for astronomers to look at, they have watched it very, very carefully over a number of years and

seen a slight dimming in its light ona seen a slight dimming in its light on a regular basis. that tells me something is coming in front, planets. they have identified seven worlds orbiting this distant star, it is quite mind—boggling when you also think that these worlds are orbiting this start atjust also think that these worlds are orbiting this start at just the right distance for liquid water to exist up the servers, not too hot or cold, the goldilocks zone, as nasa calls it, the holy grailfor space research. can you find a place with liquid water? both the question a lwa ys liquid water? both the question always seems to be can life exist on any other planets? optimistic? i spoke to one of the scientists involved. we are a long way from little green men, we have to discount that and it is easy to get caught up in height, but the scientist i spoke to was very confident that because they have found the seven worlds and can look at them in some detail, because a

big, new telescopes are coming into service in the next few years which will give a really detailed look at some of these alien worlds, we might be able to look at the abbas beers around these planets and pick up some of the chemicals in the air —— we might be able to look at some of the atmospheres. if there is oxygen and methane, could there be life? you will not get pictures of aliens but you might get clues suggesting something is there. nasa has given the number of press conferences, we are living in a particular age where the technology is beginning to reveal things we had not thought possible 30 years ago? exactly like. if you go back a00 yea rs, exactly like. if you go back a00 years, galileo looked through a telescope and suddenly saw mountains on the moon, nobody knew they were there, he saw moon is going around jupiter, that was completely new. the more systems you have for exploration, whether it is

telescopes going very big, microscopes going smaller, the large hadron collider in geneva looking at tiny subatomic particles, the more chance you have about discovering. that is why there is huge excitement about what has been discovered today, particularly combined with the new telescopes coming on screen, the new telescopes coming on screen, the james webb telescope next year is very powerful. it will unveil things that people cannot imagine now. if they focus it on these new seven worlds, who knows what they will find? thanks to david for that. well, in the last few hours we saw this come through — white house says education and justice department is reviewing transgender bathroom guidance. multiple sources had been reporting that president trump will revoke the landmark guidelines instructing public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms matching their gender identity. the guidelines he's referring to can be found online — they were sent out in may last year. this came from the us department of

justice, us department for education. they said that "when a school provides sex—segregated activities and facilities, transgender students must be allowed to participate in such activities and access such facilities consistent with their gender identity, " and specifically mentioned toilets and locker—rooms. at the time, the us attorney general said schools which didn't comply could face lawsuits or lose federal aid. anthony zurcher has been watching this, among other issues. how much ofa this, among other issues. how much of a political issue is this for the american public? a pretty big political issue for a very small segment of the american public, typically evangelical voters, christian conservatives who view this as a social issue, and important social issue to resolve. when barack obama instituted this

interpretation, he was interpreting and almost a0—year—old federal statute that said you could not discrimination, sex discrimination, in public education. he interpreted that as applying it to transgender stu d e nts that as applying it to transgender students in schools. what republican opponents have tended to say is that thatis opponents have tended to say is that that is an old law written well before any kind of transgender movements came about. they think they are returning its back to the way it should be and of congress wa nts to way it should be and of congress wants to deal with it they should pass a law specifically about it and not have the president take unilateral actions. ijust unilateral actions. i just showed a unilateral actions. ijust showed a letter, small print, you could see department ofjustice department for education, they will have to come together and agree, i imagine, to get anything changed? yes, andi imagine, to get anything changed? yes, and i don't think there is any chance that congress will go out of its way to pass any sort of law like

this. in north carolina did the state legislators passed a law preventing transgender access to bathrooms of their choice and it became a very hot button controversial issue, the governor who supported it got voted out of office by a very narrow margin, i don't think he will see national politicians want to touch it. some people wonder why the trump administration has decided to take action on this now. press secretary sean spicer was asked about it today and said it was because the policy has been challenged in court and held by a judge in a federal court and they need to take a position on it and resolve it, others say that is not necessarily the case. just one of the issues and vinnie has been looking at for us, thank you very much. —— just one of the issues that anthony has been looking at for us. a bit later we will talk about

mexico and sean spicer, anthony zurcher was talking about, he has particularly been speaking about secretary of state rex tillerson making his way to mexico, so later we will take a few minutes at the state department to talk about that. before we do that, let's talk about iraq. it's the fourth day of the big push to drive, so—called islamic state out of the iraqi city of mosul. right now the operation is focused on mosul‘s international airport. 0ur middle east correspondent quentin sommerville is on the front—line and sent us this report. this is as far forward as the federal police have advanced. 0ver there as their next target. beyond that open ground and factory is mosul‘s airport. is have done a lot of damage, smashed up the runways and the terminal buildings and you might be able to hear occasionally

there is artillery going on from these guys, the federal police and other forces. all—night long we heard the most incredible booms from coalition air strikes, all clearing this area so an advance can be made. the airport is important for a number of reasons, it is symbolic, but look at that land, a huge parcel of land giving much more control to iraqi government forces. also it will help cut off the southern route to western mosul. here in the uk a political row has erupted over the compensation paid to the british fighter with so—called islamic state. ronald fiddler was formerly a detainee at guantanamo bay and is reported to have died in a suicide bombing near mosul yesterday. former prime minister tony blair has defended himself, saying the decision to award the compensation was taken by david cameron's government. 0ur deputy political editor john pienaar reports. the face of a fanatic.

a briton, about to die an isis suicide bomber. detained, then freed, and reportedly handed £1 million compensation in taxpayers' cash. why? that is now a bitter dispute. jamal al—harith, born ronald fiddler, was among the suspected terrorist detainees held at guantanamo bay without charge until, following british government pressure, he was freed to finally fight and die for so—called islamic state. tonight his family insisted that compensation was lower than £1 million for what they called mental cruelty and inhuman treatment. it's been hard for us, you know? he's gone now and ijust hope that between him and his maker he is... done whatever he wanted to do. but today the papers and some tory mps blamed labour in government for letting him go and paying him off. utter hypocrisy, said tony blair — the critics had demanded the freedom of the detainee. but mr blair has hit back.

he said in a statement... it is just a matter of fact that compensation was decided by the conservative government, by kenneth clarke, the justice secretary, not by a labour government. according to this intelligence assessment on wikileaks, fiddler was a suspected terrorist associated with al-qaeda, yet he was compensated. there was intelligence against these people yet the only way the actions could have been defended is if the intelligence and the sources of intelligence had been brought out in open court. and that would have undermined the whole of the efforts of the intelligence and security agencies. jamal al—harith travelled

to pakistan in 2001. he was arrested that year in afghanistan, from there a transfer to guantanamo before repatriation and release in 200a. in 2010 he was paid compensation and in april 201a to syria via turkey, tojoin islamic state. intelligence can now be used in court without compromising sources after a change in the law, but hundreds of britons have travelled to iraq and syria as jihadists and one former minister told me that they are believed to include some who have been monitored, perhaps even detained and compensated in the past. is that the stock market? there may be more like ronald fiddler, security forces can only try to keep up their guard in future. john pienaar, bbc news, westminster. still to come, malaysian police have named a north korean diplomat as a suspect in the murder of kimjong—nam, the half—brother of north korea's leader. the communities secretary has said

more support will be announced on the budget next month the companies in england and wales facing a steep rise in business rates. the government has come in to pressure from mps to soften the pressure of the re—evaluation. sajid javid told the re—evaluation. sajid javid told the commons that ministers were listening to those concerns. businesses coming off rate relief can be faced with an alarming cliff edge. independent retailers and some high—value areas are struggling. i have always listen to businesses and this situation is no exception. it is clear to me that more needs to be done to level the playing field and make the system fairer. iam make the system fairer. i am working closely with my right honourable friend the chancellor to determine how best to provide further support to businesses facing

the steepest increases. we expect to be in the steepest increases. we expect to beina the steepest increases. we expect to be in a position to make an announcement at the time of the budget in two weeks. this is 0utside source live from the bbc newsroom. 0ur lead story is... nasa says it has found four earth—sized exoplanets. actually, seven! they're located about 39 light years away from the sun. let's look at the language services. bbc world service reports that the personal assistant of french presidential candidate marine le pen was charged on wednesday in a scandal over fake jobs at the european parliament. another aide was questioned. the police want to know if they were paid forjobs at the european union that they didn't actually do. a ban on female army officers in turkey wearing the muslim headscarf has been lifted by the government. the military is the last turkish institution to see the ban removed. it has long been seen as the guardian of turkey's secular constitution.

that's on bbc turkish. and among the most watched online is this footage that's emerged of harrison ford being involved in a near—miss with an airliner. the incident happened last week but the airport has only released the video today. malaysian police want to question a north korean diplomat and an employee of the country's state airline in connection with the murder of kim jong—nam. 0n the left is kim u— il, an employee of air koryo and on the right, hyon kwang song, the second secretary of the north korean embassy in kuala lumpur. 11 people have either been detained or are wanted by police. the bbc‘s paul adams has the latest. the mystery surrounding the death of kim jong—nam deepens by the day. around him, a whole constellation of suspects. and a growing conviction this was the work of north korea. the malaysian police have added two new north koreans

to the wanted list. an employee of the state airline, and a senior embassy official. and, they say, they now know exactly how the attack was carried out. you know, what actually happened was these two ladies were trained put the liquid on their hands. they were supposed to wipe it over the deceased's face. what was the substance smeared on mr kim's face? the police still do not know. but they say surveillance footage shows the women keeping their hands away from their bodies and heading straight for the washrooms. a further twist, malaysian special forces guarding the mortuary where mr kim's body is being kept. police say there have been

attempts to break in. north korea has denied any involvement. on monday, the ambassador in kuala lumpur said the investigation could not be trusted. that drew a measured, but distinct rebuke, from malaysia's prime minister. we have good relations with north korea all this while. the statement by the ambassador was totally uncalled for. it is considered diplomatically rude on his part. the death of kim jong—nam is testing relations between two normally friendly countries. the malaysian authorities have asked to interview the new suspects, and have warned the north korean embassy that they expect co—operation. paul adams, bbc news. let's turn to outside source business. i want to begin with his tweet from andrew walker, our business economic ‘s correspondence,

the world trade organisation agreement on trade facilitation comes into force, important but admittedly unglamorous stuff. he talks about an international agreement called the trade facilitation agreement, or tfa, which involve streamlining customs procedures. the reason it is so important is it is meant to boost global trade by $1 trillion a year. let's bring in michelle fleury in new york. good to have you back. can it really do that, $1 trillion a year? economists within the world trade organisation have been poring over the documents, trying to figure out what these changes would mean, how simplifying and clarifying rules, cutting red tape when it comes to customs and getting goods through customs, how that could help. they believe it could help boost economic growth by half a

percent in the global economy. part of the reason or one of the ways they think this will work is that small businesses, especially in developing countries, will find it easier to gain access to other markets. that is just one of the ways they think this will help. whether or not it turns out to be the case, we have seen calculation is in the past that have not always materialised, specifically in the united states i am thinking about trade deals like napster and what benefits they will bring, in reality when things go into place and time things can turn into little bit different. —— i am thinking of trade deals like nafta. but the idea is that by simplifying the procedure it should boost economic growth. a new administration, the trump administration, the trump administration, has been very vocal about other trade agreements. will the us accept this latest one? here is the interesting part, this

agreement, the specific agreement, was agreed upon by the us under the 0bama was agreed upon by the us under the obama administration. the way the wto works is this was first part of the negotiation dating back to 2012 something known as thejoe hart talks because of the capital city weather is trade negotiations were taking place —— known as the doha talks. it was not agreed upon until 2013 and it was ratified as a result of more than 110 countries agree on, the us being one. it comes at a time that the us president has put himself forward as an anti—globalisation figure. himself forward as an anti-globalisation figure. we will have to wait and see, thank you very much, michelle fleury. i want to bring you some new research on life expectancy. a university in the uk and the world health organisation have analysed life spans in some of the world's richest countries to examine how they'll change by 2030. south korea is set to become the first country to have an average life expectancy above 90.

men will live to sa. france saw a big increase — it will have the second longest life span for women. the data also forecasts that japan, once the picture of longevity, will tumble down the global rankings. bad news for them. earlier i spoke with the bbc‘s online health editor, james gallagher. i asked him what south korea was doing right. lots of little things or add up to make this difference across an entire population, where you are pushing past the 90 barrier. 0ne entire population, where you are pushing past the 90 barrier. one of the big things as they have incredibly low rates of obesity compared with other similar countries around the world. things like high levels of education and nutritional awareness and great medical care. you might ask, don't lots of other countries have that? the key thing south korea seems to do on top of that is make sure the

whole nation benefits. this figure is not saying no other country will have people living past 90, it is that the average person will live that the average person will live that long. this is about the rich, the middle—income and the poor in south korea benefiting from medical improvements. i was looking at the life expectancy for a south korean man, it is still less, i think 8a, why is there still the disparity?m isa why is there still the disparity?m is a global pattern that has emerged during the 20th century, men started smoking more than women, drunk more, when cars came around men drove cars more aggressively and died in more car crashes than women. that started to make death rates around the world higherfor men to make death rates around the world higher for men than women, men died younger. what is happening is that is starting to close over time as men and women have equal roles in society, smoking, drinking and driving around about the same. things come back together over time.

a country that perform badly that you would like to tell viewers about? japan tumbling down the list surprise me. japan, it is like the picture of healthy long life in the whole world. it has in es . not “heals clear, france and is not entirely clear, france and south korea over taking it on the women's front and drops outside the top ten for men. something interesting going on. smoking probably quite important, but certain. thanks to james. the white house says it will soon publish a new trouble order to replace the one set aside by the appeals court in san francisco. the key parts suspended travel from seven predominantly muslim countries. before we end this half of the programme, let's remind you about how we got here. 0ur president doesn't get it. this

is wrong and we're going to fight it. we will have a very, very strict ban, we will have extreme setting, which we should have had in this country for many years. this executive order... was mean—spirited and un—american. this is not, i repeat, not a ban on muslims. the church ruled a decision, effective immediately, effective now, it puts a halt on president trump's on constitutional

and unlawful executor border —— the judge ruled a decision. we will be doing something very rapidly having to do with additional security for our country, you'll be seeing that sometime next week. in addition we will continue to go through the court process and ultimately i have no doubt that we will win that particular case. betis us president donald trump. we will delve into the relationship between the united states and mexico in the next half—hour, stay with us if you can. thanks very much forjoining me.

i'll update you on the uk weather prospects, albeit briefly, in a couple of minutes, but let me take you to a couple of weather stories that have caught my eye across the world. not for the first time recently, the western side of the usa. we have got used to this sort of imagery coming out of california. you will member that over the last few years we have talked about record—breaking tropes, now we are talking about record—breaking rain. this whole area of low pressure with the attendant cloud is just the latest in a number of winter systems that deposited all that rain, all of that deposited all that rain, all of that snow across the west of the usa in recent weeks and months. we are not quite on with it yet, as that i’u ns not quite on with it yet, as that runs away towards the north—east, the atmosphere conspires to make an area of low pressure, moving slowly but surely ever further towards the north—east through the week. it is brilliant but warm, moist air

and running it up against a reservoir of cold air sitting with intent across the heart of canada. come the weekend it will slump further south as the winter flicks into the north—west, on the western flank of that low pressure. it is disruptive snow. they had record—breaking highs recently, those temperatures are set to dip and there will be shovelled aplenty as the system continues into the eastern side of canada just in time for the weekend, blizzards. eastern side of canada just in time forthe weekend, blizzards. sunday will bring a new area of low pressure with cloud and wind, rain and snow back towards california. that's being new towards beijing, while the area of low cloud was close by not only to beijing but across the northern parts of china and mongolia, it deposited this. —— let's spin you towards beijing. that is not unusual for this time of the yearin is not unusual for this time of the year in beijing but there was a lot more snow across northern china and

mongolia, there was widespread disruption. it is quite unusual this year because they are running the most immense deficit with regard to rainfall across northern china at the moment. whilst this particular system is around, no shortage of rainfall as it sweeps do the korean peninsular and it looks like thursday will be particularly wet across the bottom two thirds of the islands of japan. let's spin you closer to home towards the mid—atla ntic, let's spin you closer to home towards the mid—atlantic, where the focus of forecasting community has been on this island of cloud. simply because, run that forward another 12 01’ because, run that forward another 12 or 18 hours, it will become this vigorous area ? pressure, vigorousarea of low known as storm doris. lots otherwise known as storm doris. lots of wind in circulation, snow for some. tom strutt —— tomasz schafernaker will have the latest details in a few minutes. hello, i'm nuala mcgovern, this is 0utside source. as we go to air, nasa is making an announcement of a new discovery. the space agency says it has found seven ea rth—sized exoplanets.

they're located about 39 light years away from the sun. the us secretary of state is heading to mexico. rex tillerson will be meeting with mexico's president on the trip. hong kong's former leader has been sent to prison for bribery charges. we'll get more from helier chung. and amnesty international has released a report warning of divisive politicians who use poisonous rhetoric.