the latest headlines on bbc news. i am reged ahmad. president maduro says he will resolve within hours the controversy of the ruling that strips parliament of its power. street protests have also been asleep in the capital. the white house says president donald trump is not worried about his former aide. what his former aide might reveal when talking about mitigations with the kremlin. donald trump says the inquest is a witch—hunt. and president donald trump has walked out of an executive order signing without actually signing the executive order. donald trump was poised to sign a pair of executive orders on friday, targeting trade abuses, but a reporter's question distracted him from signing at least one of them. those are the headlines. nicola sturgeon has formally requested the transfer of powers from westminster to hold an independence referendum. in a letter to the prime minister, nicola sturgeon says there is no rational

reason why this request should be declined. but downing street says it would be wrong to hold talks while the details of brexit remain uncertain. and the scottish tories accuse the first minister of eight theatrical gesture. brian taylor reports. an obvious contrast with the prime minister, signing goodbye to the eu ata minister, signing goodbye to the eu at a desk, with a portrait of britain's is by minister. in her letter, nicola sturgeon says she wishes theresa may every success in brexit talks, promising full and constructive support. yes, 69, no omid 59. there were no abstentions. the motion is therefore agreed. holyrood has now heard of an independence referendum to coincide

with the conclusion of those brexit negotiations. and the first minister adds that there appears to be no rational reason for you to stand in the way of the will of the scottish parliament, and i hope you will not do so. i asked the first minister why now when she knew the prime minister had already said no.” why now when she knew the prime minister had already said no. i am writing to the prime minister today to set out the rational case for the will of the scottish parliament. don't you know the answer? she has said no several times. don't you know the answer? she has said no severaltimes. let don't you know the answer? she has said no several times. let me finish. i writing to hurt to ask that she respects the will of the scottish parliament. we are not on a quest for the snp or the scottish parliament, this is about the scottish people. as she entered into discussions, as anticipate she might, what they've said is quite clear. in my view, the scottish will must be respected. it is not a question of if, but how. in response, a spokesman for the prime

minister could though she would not enter any talks at the moment about independence. scottish tories say the focus should be entirely brexit. it isa the focus should be entirely brexit. it is a highly ethical gesture that we have all been anticipating. this isa we have all been anticipating. this is a request for a referendum which we know the people of scotland do not want. and the prime minister has made perfectly clear that she does not believe that now is the time. in many respects, this isjust not believe that now is the time. in many respects, this is just pure theatrical politics. it is not in a survey meaningful purpose. we will not have a referendum in the immediate future until our future outside the european union is clear. nicola sturgeon is this scholar must be given a choice. now, stalemate. now, it is time for witness with tanya beckett. hello. i'm tanya beckett. welcome to

witness here at the british library in london. this month, we have another five people who have witnessed extraordinary moments in history, first—hand. we will hear from a woman who volunteered with mother teresa in the slums of calcutta. the worst crash in civil asia asian history, and the environmentalist behind one of the world's first bans on cars. but first, in 1972, us president richard nixon travelled to china for an historic meeting for building relations between the countries after more than 22 years of cold war. western lord was one of the american aids on the trip. today, president nixon is visiting china.

the first american statesman to have settled on chinese soil since chairman mao came to power in 19119. —— winston lord. chairman mao came to power in 19119. -- winston lord. many of us were a little disappointed in the arrival arrangements. this was a huge geological event and we navy thought there would be big crowds and in fa ct there would be big crowds and in fact there were a few people. —— naively. we then realised this was keeping in line with the fact we have been enemies for years and you could not turn a page immediately. and so these two great countries, the most powerful nation on earth visits the most populous nation on earth. i was special assistant to a henry kissinger, the national security adviser, and i was in charge of orchestrating and putting together the thick briefing books we re together the thick briefing books were the president for his trip to china. my first impressions that beijing was that it was a very bleak, rather depressing place. it was very drab. everybody was dressed the same. very few cars. mostly b i cycles. the same. very few cars. mostly

bicycles. we arrived at the guesthouse and to our surprise, they announced that chairman mao would like to see president nixon right away. this was chairman mao acting like a traditional chinese emperor, not giving you any warning as to when you go to be summoned to his presence. i worked for many presidents, including several close—up. president nixon was by far the most well versed in strategic in international relations. he was extraordinary. whatever his claws, one has to grant him bat. as a person, he was quite shy. he was a lwa ys person, he was quite shy. he was always somewhat engaging in banter or small talk. —— flaws. always somewhat engaging in banter orsmall talk. —— flaws. both always somewhat engaging in banter or small talk. —— flaws. both sides had clear reasons for trying to reopen communications after 22 years of mutual enmity and indeed fighting each other in korea. when you meet someone of historic significance you have two figure out whether you are impressed with the personality

because you know he is important, or whether you would be impressed if you did not know who he was. kissinger and i agreed that even if we went to a cocktail party and chairman mao was there and we did not know who he was, he would have exceeded some power and attraction. this is not to glorify him, he was a monster in many ways. the meeting itself, at first, puggle asked. it was only about an hour with translation. —— puzzled us. but it was declared a success from the very beginning. at the conclusion of the meeting, the chinese came in with photographs of all of us at the meeting. resident extent and kissinger looked at each other and said that mr lord was not at his meeting. cut out all the voters. —— president nixon. it was a ready humiliating for the us secretary of state not to be the meeting while the national security adviser was. but to have in addition to that some

punkin but to have in addition to that some punk in his early 30s also sitting in on the meeting... it is worth coming 16,000 milesjust to stand here and see the wall. join me in raising your glasses to chairman mao and to the future of the chinese and american people. we were in the middle of a geological earthquake. there was a combination of nurses deal working on this, but also a sense that we were frankly in the midst of making history. and mr lord went on to be the ambassador to china and was involved in the country for the rest of his career. next, in march, 1997, catholic nun mother teresa step down from her

charity work with the poor in india due to herfailing health. charity work with the poor in india due to her failing health. it was known as one of the poorest cities in the world. you would see people who were lying in a pool of their vomit, that esk river, in filthy clothes covered in life. so to go and lift of those people and taken to the home and clean them, it took a lot of kindness to do the kind of work they did. —— excreta. a lot of kindness to do the kind of work they did. -- excreta. mother teresa and her sisters of charity live in one of calcutta's poorest slums. in addition to the traditional vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the sisters ta ke chastity, and obedience, the sisters take a doormat one of service and obedience to the poor. —— the

sisters take one of service. we saw her every morning on the way to school. we had a mother teresa nun who came and said if you would like to come and help come you can come to come and help come you can come to the baby's home. —— babies' home. it was quite overwhelming. they had rules doormat rows and rows of cots. —— they had rows and rows of cots. so we went and spent a morning helping to give the baby is a bath. it was nice to hold the bottle and feed a baby and these children, they needed affection a lot, so the babies liked to be cuddled. my my sister went around with mother

teresa's nuns and they used to regularly visit a washing clinic and pick up live babies from abortion buckets. —— abortion clinics. we once saw a baby thrown in a garbage dump. ifound once saw a baby thrown in a garbage dump. i found the very authoritarian way in which the order was run not something that i would ever be able to agree with. i remember thinking that the nuns lived such an austere life. she said you should suffer for christ and offer your suffering to god. and i could not bear that, because i thought we should try to fight poverty, and that people don't have to suffer so much on earth. i saw mother teresa again many, many

yea rs i saw mother teresa again many, many years later. she was that much older, more wrinkled. my mother asked mother teresa to bless her grandchildren. and my mother said to her, my daughter used to come and volunteer. then she said very, quite arrogantly, i felt, at volunteer. then she said very, quite arrogantly, ifelt, at the volunteer. then she said very, quite arrogantly, i felt, at the time, volunteer. then she said very, quite arrogantly, ifelt, at the time, it she said yes, yes, used to do these things when your little. what do you do now? —— you used to.|j things when your little. what do you do now? -- you used to. i have never doubted for a second that i have done the right thing and this was the will of god. it was his choice. there were millions out for her funeral. things like sense, that is not my thing at all, but since millions of people wanted her to be a state, i did the work she did was exceptional. and if she has to be a

saint, she has to be a saint. mary speaking at home in bangalore. in march 1970 seven, two jumbo jets collided, killing 583 people. it was the worst crash in aviation history. captain robert brand was the co—pilot on the pan am plane that was one of the few who survived the collision. the jumbo swept out of the mist and more than 150 miles an hour. —— at more than. it crashed into the plane straddling the runway. the fog came in and the visibility wasjust runway. the fog came in and the visibility was just about nil. and the captain was taxiing the aeroplane only at about three knots, because that was as fast as he felt like it was safe to go. the pan am aircraft was given permission to leave the standard had done the taxi

wa ke rley ta ke off leave the standard had done the taxi wakerley takeoff point. now, the pan am pilot says that he was told to proceed down the main runway, and to leave the main runway and back onto the taxiway, at the next russian. he was neville able to do that, because that was the point of impact. —— he was never able to. we looked up and saw him coming down the runway at us. i saw his landing light shaking, and that is how i knew he was moving. i could not believe that man was taking off. i started yelling to get off the runway and the captains started turning the aeroplane. i looked back out my right side window, and saw him lifting off the runway. so i close my eyes and duct. and basically said a very short prayer that he missed us. when he does, all that was, was a short bump. no big noise, no big shaking.

i thought, thank itv staff. then i looked up for the fire control handles. and that is what —— that is when i first noticed that the top of the aeroplane was gone. so ijumped to the ground, which was a0 feet from the cockpit floor to the ground. andi from the cockpit floor to the ground. and i think the lord that i hit on some grass. —— i thank. there we re hit on some grass. —— i thank. there were about 50 people that had already gotten out on be left wing of the aeroplane. and i started yelling at them to jump off. and one poor lady, she jumped first, yelling at them to jump off. and one poor lady, shejumped first, and everybody else jumped right on her and broke her back and both legs and both arms. after we had been out there probably five minutes, the centre fuel tank blew up. and that

sent a flame probably 250 feet in the air. and then the air plane just fell apart. we only had like 65 that got out of our plane altogether. the plane burst into flames and carried on down the runway, disintegrating as it went, until the on down the runway, disintegrating as it went, untilthe main on down the runway, disintegrating as it went, until the main piece of the fuselage came to rest more than half a mile away from the point of impact. no one survived the klm crash. i always from day one believed it was the klm's captain's fault. —— klmcaptain's fault. he disregarded all procedure when he went to take the takeoff. nobody will ever know why he was in such a

hurry and to got the way he did. the captain cook did you to fly until he retired and he spoke to us in 2016 and has since sadly passed away. remember, it can watch witness every month on the bbc news channel, or catch up on over 1000 radio programmes on our online archive. just go to the website below. next, we are going back to 1989, when mexico city took the unprecedented step of severely restricting private car use on its streets. 0ur guest was the person behind the effort to cut pollution. another miserable, choking day in this gives you —— big cyclicity, undoubtedly the most deluded capital on earth. the smog slowly poisoned the 20 million inhabitants. just breathing is like smoking a0

cigarettes a day. mexican traffic is the worst in the world. millions of large, thirsty american cars criss—crossing the world's largest city without a thought for fuel conservation. and he still campaigns on environmental issues in mexico. finally this month, we're going all the way back to prerevolution russia. a pioneering photographer travelled to the furthermost corners of the russian empire and recorded a disappearing lifestyle in magnificent colour. michelle is his grandson. —— michel. my my grandfather was one of the

pioneers of colour photography. it's a unique example of this quality of colour. this is close to 100 years old. at that time you have to realise that the only photograph in colour were taken indoors. it was probably the first to do a lot of work outside. —— he was. this is a very nice pic on the canal, where he did a lot of shots. you really feel something extremely natural. you can really feel that this guy was very pleased to be taken and at the same time the composition of the picture is great. he was able to travel

anywhere in the empire. he got permission from the tsar to travel everywhere, even the areas that were very difficult to access. bukarah todayis very difficult to access. bukarah today is use —— uzbekistan. it is in the south—east of the empire, bordering iran, afghanistan and china. my grandfather was somebody who was extremely open—minded. he was really a renaissance man and in his work he tried to show the different categories of people, in terms of religion, origin.

this is a jewish school. a teacher and some pupils. the image was obtained by projecting the free negative on glass, in black and white, through a colour lens for the projection, recreating the colour. this is the original notebook of my grandfather, with a lot of technical description and some eventually document, like with free pictures in colour. it is a kind of eccentric renaissance man. i like that it was

a little bit like that also, i try to be. and the more you learn the more you find this person extremely attractive and quite fascinating. he left russia shortly after the revolution. he died in paris in 19aa. that's all from us this month. i hope you willjoin me next month, ikea at the british library. we will have five extraordinary account of history through the eyes of the people who were there. for now, from me and the rest of the team at witness, goodbye. hello. this past week has seen some

really varied weather, but this weekend we will even out the differences. we are all pretty much in the same boat for saturday, in that there will be a fair amount of showers around, some quite heavy. a chilly night to come on saturday night. then the vast majority will have a fine and dry sunday, with some sunny spells around. this is what the start of saturday looks like for early rises. pretty wet across north—west england. it will ta ke across north—west england. it will take much of the morning before that begins to ease. already through western parts of the uk the showers are getting going, so out and about through south—west england this is the picture at nine a.m.. increasingly into parts of the midlands as well, dotted about some of these showers. much of eastern england will have a fine morning. the rain, more persistent compared with elsewhere in the uk to begin with. standing water and showers around in northern ireland through the west and north of scotland. dry

to begin within eastern scotland. it will take much of the morning before this rainy north—west england eases to showers, going into the afternoon. look at the showers breaking out elsewhere. some of them will be happy. the risk of hail and fund. slow—moving. some bright and sunny spells in between. an improvement gradually through the afternoon in northern ireland, western parts of scotland, western coastal areas of england and wales. in sunny spells, 13— 16. not bad. 0n saturday evening to showers should fade away into sunday morning. mainly dry. high pressure building infor mainly dry. high pressure building in for the second part of the weekend. quite a chilly start on sunday morning, compared with recent mornings. a touch of frost in scotla nd mornings. a touch of frost in scotland and northern ireland possible and a frost on the ground in the northern half of the uk. we are rewarded on sunday with some cloud around. some good sunny spells too and the vast majority will have a dry day, with light winds. in the

sunshine feeling pleasant. again, temperatures mostly about 11— 15. a few spots getting warmer than that into sunday. the races on sunday, looking fine and calm. the weather shouldn't be causing too many dramas. enjoy the action. into the start of next week, there are some weather fronts to come through and here they come. 0nce weather fronts to come through and here they come. once they pushed their way through they will be weakening further south later on monday and into tuesday and once they are gone high—pressure builds backin they are gone high—pressure builds back in across the uk. wednesday onwards, much of next week looking dry and there will be some sunny spells coming through as cloud. welcome to bbc news. our top stories: a warning of tough times ahead. the talks which are bound to start will be difficult, complex and sometimes

even confrontational. there is no way around it. michael flynn sacked over his links with russia and donald trump says he should ask for immunity of prosecution. and china tries to bring an end to a century of ivory trading.