a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: complete and utter nonsense — that's what britain's communications intelligence agency calls allegations from the white house that it helped carry out surveillance on donald trump. what happened when a bbc team faced the volcanic fury of mount etna in sicily. we're on the ground in china's xingiang province — with the so—called people's war on terror. recent attacks here have all been local and low—tech, a handful of young farmers armed only with knives. and a new network of national parks for chile as the government there receives an unprecedented private donation of land. hello.

in a very, very unusual move, britain's communications intelligence agency has gone on the record to deny allegations from the white house that it helped carry out surveillance on donald trump during the us election campaign. the gchq statement says the allegations are "complete and utter nonsense, utterly ridiculous and should be ignored." the president and his spokesman are still unrepentant about his unproven claim that trump tower was wire—tapped on the orders of president obama, even though the republican speaker of the house and an influential senate committee have also declared it didn't happen. here's our north america editorjon sopel. bagpipes playing. saint patrick's day is being celebrated in washington but donald trump does not seem to be enjoying the luck of the irish as his problems pile up. remember his claim in a series of tweets that barack obama

had tapped his phone and that his predecessor was "sick and bad"? well, last night, the president gave an interview in which he stood by the claim. "wire—tap" covers a lot of different things. i think you're going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks. but today, the senate intelligence committee flatly contradicted him... at a tetchy white house briefing, the president's spokesman said mr trump continued to stand by the claim, even suggesting that british intelligence could have been involved. but again no evidence was offered. reporter: despite the fact that the senate intelligence committee says they see no indication it happened... no, first of all, he stands by it but, again, you are mischaracterising there maybe similar battles to come over the president's budget which was unveiled today.

it proposes a boost to spending for the armed forces and border security but major cuts to overseas aid and the environment and, the most vulnerable. it throws billions of dollars at defence while ransacking american investment injobs, education, renovation, clean energy investment injobs, education, innovation, clean energy __ m- 2....-,.: 2.4-;;. 32,24 it will leave our nation weakened. no one can accuse donald trump of not being true to his election promises by turning an easy campaign pledge into something more concrete is turning out to be extremely difficult. his most eye—catching proposals are stuck in thickjudicial and legislative mud. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. earlier, i spoke to emily cadei, political correspondent with newsweek and i asked her if the budget seemed to allocate spending on defense at the expense

of everything else. i think the important thing to keep in mind here is that the budget is not a binding document. this is really trump's campaign priorities reiterated in what they're calling a budgetrblueprintf= !e 3“ 95 se 1... 545551‘ 55“? z wants to carry out the priorities tha trump has laid out but certainly you see the same things laid out in numbers that he talked about on the campaign trail, which is — america first, strong on defence, taking the us out of foreign entanglements, reducing foreign aid and attacking environmental regulations and a lot of other domestic programmes that he see £132 £1521 ii éiiii qéiiéi'; 7 —— 7 —— — .. —— as a waste of resources. you would have thought, looking from the outside,

the chance of getting this through a republican—controlled congress would be high — many republicans surely keen to see more money go to fight is, modernize the military, also keen to see washington spending cut there is though this thing called "sequestration", isn't there? and he may need democrat votes and republican votes? right, in the senate they are certainly need both to pass even just a basic spending bill. would have to be repealed to break through the spending caps that it sets, which is what trump is trying to do with this budget proposal and that is going to be very difficult to convince democrats that they should be spending additional money on defence the envirnmental protection agency and other domestic priorities. how is this kind of austerity going to play even with mr trumps' supporters, coming from a man who claims to be a billionaire, who has a cabinet full of people from goldman sachs when the taxpayers is paying for his wife to stay in new york and for his trips to mar—a—lago.

when you talk about budget cuts in the abstract it is popular but when yet start taking a scalpel to programmes people realise that certain things are going to disappear and every programme in this budget has a constituency. you are already hearing an outcry at certain state that are seeing environmental programmes cut, in otherjobs programmes cut. it is a lot more politically difficult even with republicans in control of congress to pass through something that you are going to affect directly certain programmes and what he is talking about is eliminating entire budgets and agencies so this is not going to play at exactly as it is on the paper that trump has presented to congress. if this is a kind of wish list,

if his administration does not expect all of this become policy, what are the red lines? what will he really fight for? he has been clear on the border wall. there is a tremendous amount of scepticism in washington but it was such a high—profile promise that he will fight for that and for the immigration enforcement and homeland security. thank you very much indeed. britain's prime minister, theresa may, has rejected a call for a second referendum on scottish independence — saying now is not the time. scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, has called for a second vote to be held, between autumn 2018 and spring 2019. but the prime minister said the whole of the uk should focus on getting the best brexit deal for every part of the uk. the us secretary of state, rex tillerson, has just landed in south korea where he'll meet

the country's acting president. amongst other things, the pair will discuss how to deal with the growing threat from north korea. while in agan. he saidchentg gears in pyonyang have failed. at least ten people have been injured in a school shooting, in the southern french town of grasse. the attacker, who was armed with a rifle, handguns and grenades, is reported to have been involved in a dispute with the headmaster. a seventeen—year—old student has been arrested. reports from syria say more than a0 people have been killed and dozens of others injured in an air strike on a mosque in northern syria. the building was in the village of al—jinah west of the city of aleppo. the british—based syrian 0bservatory for human rights said the planes weren't identified, but the target is in a village held by anti—government rebels. this, say rescuers, was once a mosque. when it was hit.

many were killed instantly, others lay wounded beneath the rubble. known as the white helmets. while they could not be sure who carried out the airstrikes, this man was convinced it must be the russian air force. the attack on al—jinah was not an isolated incident. syrian activists have reported a surge in airstrikes on thursday, targeting areas west of the city of aleppo in another village, sheikh hilal, the syrian 0bservatory for human rights said a russian as strike killed two people. there has been no comment from the russian government. syria's civil war has now lasted more than six years. around 400,000 people have there is supposed to be

a ceasefire in force and another round of peace talks is due to start next week but on the ground the killing continues. bill hayton, bbc news. it's spectacular, but also incredibly dangerous. mount etna has burst into life, spitting molten lava nearly 200 metres into the sky above sicily. the scale of this eruption was unexpected, and there was a narrow escape for visitors. ten people were injured. and a bbc film crew was filming there at the time, among them, our science correspondent, rebecca morelle it is one of the world's most active vulcanoes, and for the last few weeks, mt etna has been erupting again. we were filming a lava flow that had formed overnight. tourists had come to see it, too. the lava is so slow—moving it is usually considered safe. then this happened.

explosion. the hot rocks mixed with snow and ice, causing a massive explosion. were hurled up into the air. we ran for our lives. many were hit. there were cuts, burns and bruises, but amazingly, nothing worse. you 0k? stay down. just sit down. eruptions at etna are frequent. but incidents like this, involving people, are rare. a volcanologist said it was the most dangerous event he had experienced in his 30—year career. we have made it back down the mountain, and what happened is only really just starting to sink in. look at this.

of volcanic rock that rained down upon us. we really thought we were all going to die. we had a very, very narrow escape. scientists will now continue to track how the eruption progresses. 0ur close call only shows how dangerous these forces of nature can be. rebecca morelle, bbc news, mt etna. stay with us on bbc news — still to come: singing. it was a bipartisan road trip streamed live for all to see. we speak to the us congressman whojumped in the carfor quite an adventure — complete with snacks! today we have closed the book on apartheid and that chapter. more than 3,000 subway passengers were affected.

nausea, bleeding, headaches and a dimming of vision. all of this caused by an apparently organised attack. the trophy itself is on the pedestal in the middle of the cabinet here. this was an international trophy and we understand there now that the search for it has become an international search. above all this was a triumph for the christian democrats of the west, offering reunification as quickly as possible and that's what the voters wanted. this is bbc news. i'm mike embley.

the latest headlines: the us senate intelligence committee has said there's no evidence that trump tower was under surveillance by any part of the government during last year's presidential election. britain's communications intelligence agency has also denied being involved. gchq said the allegations were com plete gchq said the allegations were complete and art are nonsense and should be ignored. —— utter nonsense. and a bbc team is among those who have escaped from the eruption of mount etna in italy. china has declared that islamist separatists in the far west of the country are the greatest threat to the nation's security. the president has promised to build what he calls "a great wall of iron" to safeguard the vast western region of xinjiang, home to a community of some 10 million uighurs — mostly muslim people, who the government is concerned may be vulnerable to radicalising propaganda from syria and iraq. widespread intimidation makes reporting from the region extremely difficult but our china editor carrie gracie gained exclusive access and sent this report. southern xinjiang, once the fabled silk road between china and the west, now the frontline in china's war on terror.

they call it an all—out offensive, a new great wall of iron. thousands of troops pledging to lay down their lives and shed blood. we are heading for the scene of the only confirmed attack this year. china doesn't want the world to see the police checkpoints. filming has to be discreet, body searches in every public building. we are the only foreign reporters to get to pishan county. three young uighurs knifed a group of han chinese on the street here last month. five victims died of their wounds. police shot the attackers dead. the government offers huge rewards for information, and some are glad of the heightened security. you don't need to be afraid, she says, this place is full of police.

you can feel safe, it's a lot better than before. recent attacks here have all been local and low—tech, a handful of young farmers armed only with knives. they show no sign of delivering the kind of large—scale atrocity that would explain the government's call for an all—out offensive, and sending thousands of troops to this so—called frontline. but some say there are more attacks than the government admits to, security the only growth business. they say it is backward here, they would get out if they could. but beijing worries the so—called islamic state posted this video of uighurs in iraq, promising rivers of blood in china's heartland. beijing fears they will come home to kill.

and so religion in xinjiang is under ever—growing pressure. no young people in the mosque, no beards, except the very old, and propaganda slogans urging the public to thank their communist party leaders. some are grateful. ablajansingsra tuné= that beijing likes. they call him xinjiang's justin bieber. but the relationship between uighurs and han chinese? he says he cannot talk about it.

and i can see why he is careful. people disappear. armed swat teams are everywhere. foreign critics warn this repression is the recruiting sergeant for terror. but china vows it will triumph, and until then every uighur is suspect. carrie gracie, bbc news, xinjiang. a non—profit group, tompkins conservation, is donating more than 400,000 hectares of land to chile for the creation of national parks. the american billionaire doug tompkins, founded he also co—founded the north face clothing line, and his widow kristine mcdivitt tompkins says expressions of democracy. the chilean government

has agreed to add a further 950,000 hectares of land. they will form part of a network of 17 national parks in patagonia, covering an area the size of switzerland. i spokejust now i spoke just now to hernan mladinic, the executive director of the company, and asked him what difference the label national park makes. well, for the first time we have this land, that we saw 25 years ago that we wanted to make national park instead of a private part. national parks are the gold standard of conservation. they are proven to protect and preserve places in the long run and that is what we want. them as national parks. does it make a difference to the local people? people who live in the area? what we have provided here is this offers a lot of opportunity for the local community through tourism and nature—based tourism.

there has been an experience m, ., . . parks abroad and here in chile. the projections show that the demand for special interest tourism is growing. the nationals visiting these part have grown. in the last three years that growth has gone on and on and communities are embracing parks again. they know that our, having good conservation with eco—tourism provides a lot of opportunity and economic development for the region. so we share with the government a vision of development based as a consequence of conservation. i know you have discussed this with the government for some time. what, problems dld to this point? at the beginning, i think

we are proud to have instigated one of the largest land protection efforts and the only way to achieve this scale is through partnership with the government. she had a vision, and sometimes it takes a village, sometimes it takes visionary people to understand. the problem... sometimes it is usually the timespan. we run out of time to create these things. sometimes people see a menace that leaves out land that has other use than for conservation. we don't think that creating national parks are obstacles for development, basically. hernan mladinic there.

now to the us roadtrip which reached across the political divide. when two congressmen from texas — will hurd, a republican, and beto 0'rourke, a democrat — had their travel plans ruined by this week's blizzard, theyjumped in a car together, and drove 1,600 miles to the nation's capital. what happened along the way was streamed live fresh from their trip, the bbc‘s laura bicker caught up with the pair on capitol hill. and political rivals. but this road trip has resulted in a bipartisan bromance. part of the drama of this was would we get to vote in time? we only had 36 hours. could we get along with each other? that is a big coffee |. they drove through themgbt’ catching the attention of a divided nation.

i need to sleep, but i can't turn this off. that is so funny. they livestreamed their debate, taking questions on border control healthcare, the threat of terrorism. a town hall on wheels. do we defund the department of education? no. there were singalongs. a whole lot of doughnuts. cheers, buddy. they also took an odd detour including to the gates of graceland. when you see, you know, there is a cool congressman like that. like bete q'beeriee' ~ about music or a healthy guy like beto who enjoys doughnuts. how many doughnuts to you eat per week? i am not a big doughnut eater. this is the high—tech map that i

worked on last night. i am supposed to be the cyber security guy and we couldn't work the camera properly or the speaker. i think that humanised the entire trip. the final countdown plays as they raced to dc, thousands tuned in and phoned in with travel advice to help them make it in time for their vote in congress. i am still disappointed, by the way, that you thought we were not going to get here on time. we made it! we had plenty of time, obviously. 36 hours is not plenty of time. that is cutting it close. but can this partnership work out in washington? bipartisanship is not a dirty word. do not be afraid to reach and go beyond what you have always spoken about what you think about as a democrat or republican and, i think that america will reward you for that. that is bipartisanship right there.

god bless you, america. just briefly, that main news again. ina very just briefly, that main news again. in a very unusual move, britain's telectronics surveillance agency, gchq, has gone on the record to deny allegations from the white house that it helped carry out surveillance on donald trump during the election campaign. the statement from gchq says the allegations are com plete from gchq says the allegations are complete and utter nonsense, utterly ridiculous, and should be ignored. the republican speaker of the house and an influential senate committee have also declared it did not happen. much more on that and more news at any time on the bbc website. and you can get in touch wittrme i'm @bbc mike embley. thank you for watching. we start the day with quite a lot

of variety up and down the uk. enjoying a reasonable start as we step outside. some rain for the north and it does not look so pretty. cold wind and wintry showers across the north of scotland. for wales, not too bad at eight o'clock breakfast, there will be sunshine here and the wind is not too strong. quite chilly, mind you. further north it is wet with rain piling into northern ireland rain into the wés'féf—sié'flétfii—ffifif? ~ ~ merging with the wintry showersover', the highlands markesa coldgesiezzx, w - sunshine further east, but temperatures are not much above freezing. some dampness is coming into north—west england over the pennines but to the east i think it will be a dry start. plenty of sunshine there across the midlands and east anglia as well southern england.

a nip in the air but, again, sunshine makes a difference. wind will be light across the southern parts of the country. having said that, the high ground will block out a lot of the rain. of north—east of england, for that matter. the heavy stuff there is further west and there will be snow over the highlands. cloud coming down over the southern and eastern areas of england and wales but will stay dry here and reasonably mild into the low teens. unpleasant north and west. the rain should hold off from cheltenham. not too bad a day if you wear a few layers. as we head into the evening, some rain will arrive across southern areas and it is quite patchy in nature and no great amount. heavy stuff remains north and it does not look like a nice night. some of the rain will be an issue as we get into the weekend, up over the high ground of north—western england and north wales. we will keep an eye on it.

a touch of frost first thing across the north of scotland but here, some of the best of the brightness as we go through saturday. for the rest of us, a lot of cloud in the sky. and a patchy start reaching eastern parts. it will be relatively mild despite the cloud. low to mid teens and chillier across the far north. by sunday, under the system coming in from the west. difficult to get the detail right but on balance eastern areas of the rain. quite blustery, but mild. the headlines on bbc news: the influential intelligence committee of the us senate, along with the republican speaker of the house, has said there is no evidence trump tower was under surveillance by any part of the government during last year's presidential election. very unusually, britain's gchq has issued a statement calling mr trump's allegations complete and utter nonsense, which should be ignored. a bbc crew and severaljournalists had to run for cover when they were caught on mt etna,

in sicily, as it erupted. etna has been active for a few days, but the scale of this ten people were injured. activists say at least a0 people have been killed in north—west syria, where a mosque was hit by an airstrike duringeven% - -. the british—based syrian 0bservatory for human rights says the mosque was in a village held by anti—government rebels. an estimated 20 million people in britain have at least one tattoo. it is an industry reported to be worth £100 million a year, and now a new exhibition at the national maritime museum,