sharma. our top news. i'm babita sharma. ourtop story: donald trump has again accused kim jong—un of acting very badly. it comes as north korea claims a breakthrough with its latest rocket test. speaking in beijing, the us secretary of state said tensions on the korean peninsula had reached a dangerous level. the “193“! of representatives the house of representatives intelligence committee will hold an session in washington with the open session in washington with the fbi director and the rector of the national security agency about whether russia interfered with the us election. and this story is trending@bbc.com. the $1 million global teacher prize has been won by maggie mcdonnell, a canadian teacher from a school in the arctic that can only be reached by air. you're up to date. stay with us. more to come. now on bbc news, its reporters. welcome to reporters.

i'm david eades. from here in the bbc‘s newsroom, we send out correspondents to bring in this week's programme: explosion on the front line in the battle for mosul. orla guerinjoins iraqi army forces, as they make more gains against the so—called islamic state. we've heard three car bombs going off in the distance and we've as millions face famine in parts of africa and the middle east, clive myrie reports from northern nigeria, where tens of thousands of children are at risk of starving to death. for those children, the end is inevitable. innocent victims of a man—made tragedy. and this is my bed... sleeping on thejob. zoe conway meets the foreign truck drivers in europe who can't afford to live in the countries

they work in. omelia, he's just driven ikea stocks from denmark to sweden. he only ever works in western europe, sometimes germany or norway, yet he's being paid as if he is working in slovakia. after millions of views online, we catch up with the reluctant global intranet star, the bbc interviewee whose children stole the show. you should buyjung—a a spa day for everything she did in that video. yeah, that's certainly true. my wife deserves a medal for taking care of us and our family. and seeing things through the eyes of one of britain's best—known authors. ben moore investigates new claims that jane austen was as blind as a bat! the iraqi city of mosul has become the scene of the biggest battle on earth. by western air power,

have been bearing down on this ancient city. the mission to drive out so—called islamic state, who've occupied mosul since 2014. after 100 days of fighting, they recaptured the east of the city now they say one third of the west, which is almost completely surrounded, has been retaken. orla guerin and her cameraman have been travelling with the iraqi forces. you may find some . this report distressing. a rare glimpse of western mosul. explosions urban warfare on a momentous scale. caught below, hundreds of thousands of civilians. this is the place where is proclaimed its caliphate. here it was born, and here, iraqi forces say. it will die.—~ ,: ~ ~ ~ on the ground, they are advancing, but struggling to hold what they capture.

they pound is positions. then frantic gunfire towards the threat overhead, an is drone, maybe carrying explosives. they manage to shoot it down. well, this is as far as we can go for 110w. as you can hear, there's a lot of gunfire in the area. there are snipers in position on this street. we have cover here, so we won't be moving from this position but within the last half an hour or so, we've heard three car bombs going off in the distance. we've also had a lot of incoming mortarfire. you can hear now the sounds of battle. the is fighters that are in this area are putting up fierce resistance. then the conflict came a bit closer.

the man who didn't flinch is major alani. hours later, he was wounded in battle. he's now recovering in hospital. troops using every weapon, even home—made rockets. then the rush to retrieve a casualty. we can't say how many have paid with their lives, iraqi forces don't reveal their losses, but they have the extremists .4. , 4 . a”-.. they believe victory is guaranteed in mosul, in time. but ending the caliphate may not end is. general abbas al—jabouri is in the thick of the battle. he told us the narrow streets and civilian presence

are complicating the advance. in front of us is all city, it is very hard because we need to keep to take care for the citizen. we need to be aggressive against is guys, we need to put very clear plan, to clear the area. that means we need to put a plan to survive our citizens. and as the fighting rages, more weary civilians more weary civilians leave scarred neighbourhoods where they have been caught between the militants and the army. few may have endured more than tamar suhail najab. is put an anti—aircraft gun near his house. an air strike targeting the extremists brought the roof down on his family. translation: three of my daughters are dead. they buried my heart.

my daughters were under the concrete of the house. they didn't let. me see them ;-: . la; ~ ~ before they were buried. as well as losing his daughter, and his home, he lost his leg. he prays god will destroy is, as they have destroyed iraq. orla guerin, bbc news, western mosul. away from iraq, the world is facing its largest humanitarian crisis since the end of the second world war. 20 million people in parts of africa and the middle east are at risk of famine and starvation. the united nations has issued a plea for help to avoid a catastrophe in the four affected countries, that's south sudan, somalia,

yemen and nigeria. clive myrierreegrts new , . where the conflict against the humanitarian crisis. this report contains some flashing images. they begin queueing at sunrise. they can't afford not to get in. and through the day, the stream of anxious women and their children gets bigger and bigger. is my child malnourished? could my child die? this treatment feeding centre has been working flat out recently and in the queue we found fanna ali and her child, just ten months old, born into a cruel world.