welcome to bbc news, i'm tom donkin. our top stories: the desperate search welcome to bbc news, i'm tom donkin. our top stories: the desperate search for survivors in colombia. bad weather hampers efforts after a landslide kills more than two hundred. power politics in venezuela. president maduro claims the credit as protestors call on the supreme court to reinstate the authroity of the congress. hello and welcome. a landslide in southern colombia has left more than 200 people dead. police and rescue teams are at the scene, but their efforts are being hampered by bad weather. the local governor has called the situation in the southern city of mocoa "an unprecedented tragedy". sangita myska reports. urged on by soldiers, people living in the city of mocoa run for their lives. there is no time to collect

possessions, because this is what's coming. deadly mudslides have engulfed parts of southern colombia, submerging homes, businesses and people. over 150 are dead, and hundreds more are injured. as rescuers continue the search for survivors, the president today declared a state of emergency across the region. unusually heavy rains flooded the mocoa river, bursting its banks and those of three tributaries. it created what eyewitnesses called an avalanche of mud that has pulled buildings apart, devastating towns and leaving residents amazed and appalled in equal measure. as families continue to flee, the emergency services pick their way through the debris in treacherous conditions. the red cross have tonight warned that the death toll is likely to rise. dimitri o'donnell is

a journalist based in bogota. very good to see you. it sounds like there's a huge rescue operation under way but it sounds like the ha rd est under way but it sounds like the hardest thing for the military police is getting to be affected people? absolutely. that's because over the course of the last few hours many of the roads in and around mocoa have been washed away or blocked off, so it is still difficult to get in and out of the city and that is hampering the rescue efforts. the military in the past half—hour have released the most hated figures in relation to the death toll in mocoa and we now know 254 people have died in a landslide. 200 people are still missing, 300 families have been affected across 17 neighbourhoods and hundreds of families and people

are still missing in mocoa right 110w. are still missing in mocoa right now. so that the scale of the devastation that this landslide has caused over the past 34 hours in mocoa. obviously still a huge concerns. “— mocoa. obviously still a huge concerns. —— 24 hours. how with the weather now affected in the region? i guess the last thing rescue workers need now is more brain. forecasters say there is light rain expected in parts of mocoa over the course of sunday and into monday, but it is expected to get better, so that's good news for rescue teams. they have scaled down the operations tonight. it is 8pm local time. so darkness has set in, which means it is more difficult to try and carry out the extensive search and rescue operations. 1100 police and soldiers have been sent to mocoa and they've beenjoined by 200. the. 2500 other

locals who have set out to try and pull their loved ones from out of the rubble or from their homes. pull their loved ones from out of the rubble orfrom their homes. as you have seen the devastation is extensive. a wide area of mocoa, which has a population of about 350,000 people. we flick, how common are landslides and rain of this scale in this region? it is a mountainous regions are you would expect quite a bit of rain? while they are pretty common, and of course it's all due to some people say i'm a change, the level and devastation of this has caught people by surprise. there were two landslides last year in october and november and they killed about 20 people. this time around the authorities did send out a warning notice the locals in mocoa, saying, please leave your homes, boeing find a safe place to hide, but what happened injust

a safe place to hide, but what happened in just over three a safe place to hide, but what happened injust over three hours, 30% of mocoa's monthly rainfall deluged the city in just three hours. so by the time people were on the way out of their homes, the level and speed of these rains really caught people by surprise. authorities thought there would be more trying to get people out. the difference between the landslides that took place this year and the most that took place this year and the m ost rece nt that took place this year and the most recent ones. thank you. that was the latest on those landslides. the supreme court in venezuela has reversed its decision to strip the opposition—led congress of its powers. it follows a surprise intervention by president nicolas maduro. despite the announcement, hundreds of venezuelans marched in the capital caracas to protest against the original decision. whether it was a risky game of british it or a u—turn, controversy

at the supreme court in venezuela has been reversed. following a late—night session, president nicolas maduro said a solution to the crisis had been found. translation: we've reached an agreement to all this controversy andi agreement to all this controversy and i can tell you by reading the statement and by the publication of the corrections of sentences, 155 and 156, this controversy has been overcome. not a moment too soon. tempers in caracas already frayed after yea rs of tempers in caracas already frayed after years of economic chaos and food shortages had begun to flare over this latest political crisis. translation: au protesting because i do not have freedom. translation: au protesting because i do not have freedomlj translation: au protesting because i do not have freedom. i am protesting forfear do not have freedom. i am protesting for fear of what is happening do not have freedom. i am protesting forfear of what is happening in my country and i am protesting for my children. i have two children and i wa nt children. i have two children and i want freedom for them. -- i protesting. right now we have a government that has our country cut. a country in which we are practically on our knees. our venezuela is so

pretty, so beautiful and yet today the government wants all the people to kneel before them. the origins of this controversy date back to the legislative elections which handed control of the national assembly to the opposition. however, it is a very current crisis over the democracy venezuela itself, played out internationally as well as at home. the organisation of american states, country after country, urged mr president maduro government to examine the path it was taking. it's not clear whether the reversal was based on that or on internal pressures, oi’ some combination of the two. so, for now, the supreme court has stepped back from the brink. but several key questions remain. will the national assembly be able to carry out its work without further judicial interference? and many venezuelans are asking what it says about the separation of powers in the country that the supreme court would first make this ruling and then overrule it apparently under the president's borders. at least the immediate crisis seems to have been averted and, the government hopes,

with it the threat of further violent protests. some news in brief for you now: the president of paraguay has sacked the interior minister and the chief of police after violent protests on friday over moves to allow the president to run for a second term in office. the protesters stormed the congress and set fire to the building. the authorities have also arrested four police officers, after one of the protesters was killed. a huge south korean cargo ship with 24 people on board has gone missing in the south atlantic, after sending out a distress call. a spokesman for the uruguayan navy, which co—ordinated a search, said the vessel is believed to have sunk. there are reports that two sailors have been spotted on a life raft. stay with us on bbc news. still to

come: officials in australia is a swollen rivers up in tens of thousands of people in the state of queensland. the uk government has said britain will defend the interests of gibraltar in the brexit negotiations, following warnings that spain is attempting to use the process to pursue its claim to the rock. the eu has suggested a brexit deal won't cover gibraltar without a separate agreement between london and madrid. the labour opposition say it's vital the people of gibraltar aren't used as a bargaining chip in negotiations. richard lister reports. this rock looming up from the med is casting a shadow over britain's brexit talks, and the people of gibraltar are also wondering what the future holds. they voted almost unanimously to remain in the eu, giving spain hopes of taking the territory back. just this week, theresa may said that wouldn't happen. we are absolutely steadfast in our support of gibraltar and its people and its economy. our position has not changed.

but the european council position has changed. in its draft negotiating guidelines, it says after the uk leaves the union, no agreement between the eu and the uk may apply to the territory of gibraltar without the agreement between the kingdom of spain and the uk. translation: on gibraltar, no agreement between the european union and the uk will apply without the consent of spain. we won't accept any agreement that undermines spain's position on gibraltar‘s sovereignty or that harms spain's economic interests. and madrid has other grievances, too, like gibraltar‘s low tax economy enabling the smuggling of cheap cigarettes into spain. brexit mayjust have given the spanish a bit more negotiating leverage, to the annoyance of politicians on the rock. these are draft guidelines, but already we see spain making the moves that people were expecting she might have made up five minutes to midnight with an agreement ready.

she's doing it now and, frankly, i think it's singling out gibraltar unfairly. theresa may's letter triggering article 50 and the brexit process did mention northern ireland's border with the irish republic, but not that of gibraltar with spain. critics have said that was a mistake which emboldened the spanish. and a spanish veto could mean choppy waters ahead. spain hasn't been shy of confronting britain in the past here over fishing rights off the gibraltar coast. so will britain be more likely to compromise on gibraltar in the interests of a bigger eu deal? it's absolutely wrong that any future free—trade agreement or any future security bilateral arrangements or anything else should depend on britain giving some concession to madrid over gibraltar. let me tell you, that will not happen. spain is putting gibraltarfirmly in the middle of britain's road to brexit, raising the question of what other eu member states may

demand from the uk as the price of a deal. let's get more reaction on this. in a moment we'll hear from london, but first, some analysis from brussels. the eu side don't view this as a hostile or unfriendly act, they view this as the logic of brexit. "this is what brexit means", they say. now, spain has always disputed the sovereignty of gibraltar. what a senior eu official told us was that while the uk has been inside the union it has been able to prevent that from being reflected in official union policy. on any matters that will arise after the uk has left, the eu, the official said, would speak for the 27 members and they said that spain had lobbied hard to have this in and it will apply to a future trade deal being applied to gibraltar not to the exit deals. so spain, yes, getting some leverage. downing street are saying that their commitment to gibraltar remains, yes, rock solid and borisjohnson, the foreign secretary, has said gibraltart is not for sale. the question is, what can britain do

about it in these negotiation? well, first of all, british members of the european parliament are going to raise the issue on wednesday. but their influence in this is pretty limited. further down the line, of course, britain can talk tough during those trade negotiations with spain. but you do get the impression though that britain is very much on one side of the negotiating table and, while this might not be a hostile act, the other 27 members states are very much on the other. this wasa week when the diplomatic plates started to spin and unless the government remains focussed, it is clear some quite precious, quite fragile things could be put in danger. if there's one thing we know about donald trump it's that he has a huge personal fortune. he bragged about it while campaigning to be president and it seems he's not the only one in his administration who is extremely wealthy. the white house has released details of the personal finances of some of his team. the disclosures, which are a legal requirement,

show that his daughter ivanka and her husband jared kushner are worth up to $740 million. steve bannon, has between $3.3 million and $12.6 million in assets. 00v) head of the white house national economic council gary cone is a former goldman sachs president. he has assets of at least $230 million. all in all, the president's cabinet is estimated to have a collective net worth of around $12 billion. senior white house reporter for politico, darren samuel—sohn, explained whether these numbers come as any surprise. we knew that president trump had surrounded himself with people like him — very rich people who have work in the real estate world, who have worked in the investment world, who knew construction, who knew entertainment. and so a lot of the people who have come into the white house and are serving around him have maintained many of those assets, a lot of that wealth.

and here we have the first public disclosure forms that show just how much these people are worth. for the people who supported president trump, i think that they are thrilled with who he has brought in, and has around him as his key advisers. they see these people as essentially trying to now turn the american economy around, help them become just as rich as they are. at this point in time a lot of the political support that president trump maintains from his original base is still there. the folks who didn't vote for him, who voted for hillary clinton, do see this as a huge scandal. we have never really seen anything quite like this from a president of the united states, with this much wealth in this many different places in the united states and around the world. obviously, you know, lyndonjohnson had a radio station in texas, and jimmy carter, famously, his peanut factory down in georgia, but nothing quite to the extent with the amount of investment

and assets from president trump and all the people around him that we are seeing in the white house right now. bad weather is hampering search and rescue efforts in colombia, where more than 200 people have been killed in a landslide. the supreme court in venezuela has reversed its decision to strip the opposition—led congress of its powers, that's following a surprise intervention by president nicolas maduro. officials in australia are warning that swollen rivers are still threatening tens of thousands of people in queensland and new south wales. the floods come in the aftermath of tropical cyclone debbie. i spoke with the mayor of logan, luke smith, a short time ago where officials are keeping a close eye on river levels. yes, i think 1974 was our record—setting year in queensland, and both the rivers that run through the city of logan are now in an unprecedented state and both rivers have broken those records since 1974. so it is the first time we have seen these flood levels at this height in the city of logan area.

and i have seen that the flood water levels are receding in northern new south wales, but where you are over the border in queensland communities along the logan river are very much on high alert. yes, that is correct. it is a very strange situation, the city is in a state of flux, while we have halved the city who have experienced the floodwaters, and those waters have now receded in the albert river. we now have a situation where we are working with communities downstream from the logan river who are about to experience inundation so half of the city wants to clean up and the other half are waiting to experience that. absolutely and places further north in rockhampton and the like, they are bracing for some pretty extreme flood levels. absolutely, and that is what — it is a very strange scenario. the cyclone has gone, it has moved out, it is not raining.

the sky is clear. and, you know, one week on we are now experiencing the devastation of what that cyclone did. so up in rockhampton they are bracing now and working with their residents. they have told all of their residents to move on. and it is up now to the residents to make that choice to get out. we had that experience here in the city of logan when we told people some 48 hours before and they ignored our advice and then we had to rescue them later on. so it is imperative that people listen to advice and get to high ground as quick as they can. yeah, exactly, and i have seen some sad news of loss of life and people missing. what is the hardest challenge for you to get to those people who you want to make sure are safe? yes, well, again, the most frustrating thing for us is that people are ignoring advice. but now, when the wall of water has come through, they are realising they should have listened. we have experienced sadly the death of a 77—year—old man overnight and that family is absolutely devastated.

the friends of the family on the phone to me last night and they are just really at a loss. so the whole of our city, our heart is broken for them today. but again, it is another message, if there are floodwaters, stay right away from them. it is not a place to play. those waters are flowing very swiftly. unfortunately it takes cars away and it is also taking people. but for the government's help to buy scheme, lina hannon and her husband would have needed an additional five to ten years before they could afford their own place in harrow. she does worry, though, that some high earners were also allowed to use the scheme.

it does bother me a bit that some people that didn't really need the scheme use the scheme. but, to be fair, i think that the fact that the scheme was able to help people like me, and i know that a lot of people benefited from this scheme, it makes me feel happy. introduced four years ago to encourage house—building and help mostly first—time buyers get on the ladder, 250,000 properties have been bought using the help to buy schemes. but research suggests that existing homeowners from wealthy households have benefited as well. using official data, research found that around 4,000 households in england earning more than £100,000 used the help to buy equity loan scheme, and 20,000 households used it even though they weren't even first—time buyers. this scheme, in place, playing a valuable part in helping people get into the housing market for the first time, should only be there for first—time buyers, and really shouldn't be there for people who are earning over £100,000 per year. itjust doesn't make sense. the help to buy equity loan scheme offers buyers up to a fifth of the cost of a new—build home so they only need to provide a 5% deposit. the government says almost 400,000 people have been helped and £8.6 billion has been promised for it in england until 2021. the fact that the help to buy scheme

has helped existing and sometimes wealthy households will worry some economists. they have long seen concerns about consumer indebtedness, rising house prices and savings at an all—time record low. if the cost of living continues to rise as it has in recent weeks and months, that will make the problem even worse. joe lynam, bbc news. let's return now to the news that bob dylan has finally received his nobel prize for literature. earlier we spoke to anthony decurtis from rolling stone magazine. he gave his take on how the award was finally accepted. i think there was a sense certainly in the immediate response that he was supposed to express some sort of gratitude and i think at this stage, and again those kinds of expectations are the kinds

of things that dylan has been trying to elude for a long time, so i think i feel like he didn't want to make that big a deal about it. i think he wanted to... ok, you're giving me this award, i'm happy to accept it, i'm happy to accept it on my own terms, thank you. dylan, like anybody, he's 75 at this point, he has reached a point in his career where recognition means something in terms of his legacy. how he's going be perceived. but also i think dylan is pretty sure about what his stature is and he's made an entire career out of not performing for things like this. you know, i think there's an element of him that's been historically very resistant to it. so i think he was happy to get it and accept it, but i don't think he wanted anything particularly special in that regard. you know, i think there is no question that he deserved it. i am teaching a dylan seminar

at pennsylvania university. i have a phd in literature. i know the american writers who might have been contenders. there are writers around the world, of course. but there is a sense in which dylan's impact has been so important notjust in terms of his songwriting and lyrics but in terms of his impact on many literary figures that, you know, it is well—deserved. anthony decurtis from rolling stone magazine there. well, bob dylan himself has been very low key about his nobel prize. but how might the famous singer have reacted if he put his thoughts to music? the musician mitch benn attempted to do just that. have a listen. # well, i had to be in sweden in a way # well, i had a coupla shows i had to play # so i figured that i might as well

swing by and pick up my nobel # and then i better best be on my way mitch benn. mitch benn spoke with me earlier and gave his own thoughts on bob dylan's possible attitude towards receiving a nobel prize. i don't think it is any kind of deliberate slight that it has taken him six months to pick it up. i don't think it was him trying to show that the whole thing is beneath him, something morrissey might do. i think it was a case of him literallyjust, you know, i am a very busy guy, and he happened to be in town, yes, man, iwill swing by and pick up that thing i won. he is pretty laid—back and has been for a long time.

he always keeps us guessing, enigmatic that way, but surely at this age and stage in his career, he must be thinking about legacy and surely a nobel prize in the pocket doesn't hurt that at all? to be perfectly honest, i don't know if he really thinks in terms of legacy. he has been around so long and done so much that by the time you get to his age i think one award feels quite the same as another, to be quite honest, but, yeah, i guess it is not often you get the cross over into the nobel academy into popular music, so i think he will be aware of what it means. i just don't think he will get that worked up about it. i don't think he is that kind of person. and you can get in touch with me and the team on twitter. see you soon. goodbye for now. hello, there. saturday brought some intense april showers, with hail and thunder and lightning reported widely. and weather watcher pictures like this that came in,

this is through the evening in milton keynes, show the top of a thunder cloud. in stark contrast, a much drier day awaits us, with some warm spells of sunshine. mind you, it's going to be a tad chilly to start sunday morning. a frost in the glens of scotland and northern ireland. ground frost also through north wales, the north midlands and northern england. so very much chillier than it has been in recent nights and there could be a bit of mist and fog around for the first few hours of the morning, but otherwise the morning looks set to bring the best of the sunshine for the vast majority, as you can see. temperatures just slow to recover after the chilly start. still that potential for some cloud around and some lingering showers from the day on saturday, but very isolated in comparison. mostly for the north—east of england. there could be mist and fog elsewhere. a risk for northern ireland and scotland with the frosty start. still the odd shower for northern ireland, but essentially it's a dry picture for saturday. very much a stark contrast to saturday. the cloud will tend to build through the day, fair weather cloud that is.

so it may well be bright rather than sunny come the afternoon. there is the risk of showers developing in eastern areas. just one or two, in eastern england in particular. very isolated compared to those on saturday. given the light winds in the sunshine, 13—17 will be pleasant. sunshine around the coast by the afternoon. if the boat races take place it is set fair, 15—16 in the afternoon when the races are set to take place, and it won't be as rough in temperatures as last week with the light winds. some sunshine for the premier league matches taking place over in swansea and london. a little bit of cloud hanging around. again, through the night on sunday, the cloud should melt away under the area of high pressure, so again a chilly start on monday morning. but we have the advancing weather fronts in northern ireland and scotland.

so there could be a bit of mist and fog around for your return to work on monday, but england and wales set fairand quite warm, despite the breeze picking up in the west. the rain holds off. mainly for northern ireland and western parts of scotland. but then we have the rain staggering southwards and eastwards, eventually clearing from the south—east later into wednesday, with the high—pressure returning. it means for monday there's rain in the north and west. tuesday, more cloud across the country. that's when high—pressure returns. still quite a bit of cloud mid—week. the latest headlines from bbc news. i'm tom donkin. in colombia, bad weather is holding back efforts of emergency workers after a landslide killed 200 people. the local governor said whole neighbourhoods had been swept away in what he called an "unprecedented tragedy". president santos called on authorities to start preventative measures as the rainy season begins. president maduro has made venezuela's supreme court reverse its decision to strip the opposition—led congress of its powers. despite the announcement, hundreds marched in the capital,

caracas, to protest against the original decision. the speaker of congress said the court had staged "a coup". the uk says it will defend the interests of gibraltar, following warnings that spain is attempting to use the brexit process to pursue its claim to the rock. the eu has suggested london and madrid will have to agree on gibraltar‘s place in the brexit talks. coming up now, dateline london.