hello, you're watching bbc world news. i'm chris rogers. our top story this hour: the desperate search for colombia's missing children, feared buried in a city devestatedby landslides. as the search for survivors goes on, more than 250 people are confirmed dead, as many as 300 remain unaccounted for. welcome to the programme. our other main stories this hour: the growing nuclear threat from north korea — president trump insists the us would be prepared to tackle the problem, even without help from china. flying over the front line — our reporter witnesses islamic state fighters apparently using children as human shields. we'll bring you her report. we are now over old mosul where the battle is at its fiercest. there are many civilians trapped in the narrow alleys.

i'm sally bundock. in business: where now for south africa? after last week's massive cabinet reshuffle, president zuma may face another vote of no—confidence. we talk you through what's at stake. third time unlucky? toshiba shares plunge in tokyo again on reports it may miss it's results deadline, for the third time. but first, rescue teams in colombia are continuing to search through tons of mud and debris for anyone who might have survived the devastating mudslides in the south of the country. in the last few hours the president has said 254 people are known to have died — 43 of them children. but he said they were still very much preliminary figures. the mud engulfed the town

of mocoa, burying entire neighbourhoods, and further bad weather is now hampering the rescue effort. greg dawson reports. quietly and methodically rescue teams are still looking and listening for any sign of life in mocoa but the grim reality is the operation is about recovery of the dead as it is about rescue of the living. fragile families went outside to be allowed to identify missing relatives. translation: the really sad thing is when family members come and fight their loved ones. it hurts to see it and u nfortu nately we a re ones. it hurts to see it and unfortunately we are lacking support here. dozens of children are among

those killed with the total number of deaths expected to rise as hopes of deaths expected to rise as hopes of finding survivors begin to fade. it is claimed months worth of rain fell in just two hours. the president is among those who visited the area. his critics say he should have done more to protect this area from such disaster. in a televised statement, he promised the federal government will do everything it can to help the victims families including pay for the cost of funerals. for the thousands who survived the mad slut with the challenge of rebuilding. on this spot, dozens of rocks lie on destroying homes. people have resorted to catching falling rain to drink water. but supplies are on the

way. with roads and bridges washed away, the challenge of reaching a town deep in the amazon on bass and is difficult. president trump says the united states would be prepared to act alone to counter the nuclear threat from north korea. speaking to the financial times newspaper, mr trump said: "if china is not going to solve north korea, we will." north korea likely to be a big topic of discussion later this week when president trump meets his chinese counterpart, xijinping. the china analyst who authored a book on north korea's nuclear ambition we spoke to him earlier. they really have missiles. they are based on proven technologies and in

the absence of america's cyber sabotage, they could probably work. it would be a few years before they can makea it would be a few years before they can make a nuke to those but it is making process especially because it is getting technical help from china. the us has pursued policies that have not work, for three decades, two decades depending on how you view history but clearly the united states has been very indulgent not only towards a koreans but especially towards china because we look to china to solve this problem for us but also we wanted to integrate china into the international and we gave it a much higher priority than disarming it north korea. this is a result of the american policy. they put trump into a very difficult position. sally's here with details of what's coming up in world business report?

good morning. we are focused on south africa because of the parliament speaker at is said to be considering a no—confidence vote on the opposition of president zuma. the prime minister and many other cabinet members were sacked last week. this has had a big impact on the economy. within hours of the news, the south african currency fell sharply. it was down over 5% against the dollarfor fell sharply. it was down over 5% against the dollar for the week. share markets had a big impact with their biggest drop since 2015 with their biggest drop since 2015 with the government arms and banking stocks falling the hardest. mr gordon's successor has called for a radical transformation of the economy. south african government

debt stands at 50% of gdp and it is likely the cost of borrowing will increase further. the sudden departure also saw the south african treasury failed to complete a new plan sale of short—term debt. credit ratings and due to be delivered on april seven and many expected to be downgraded. some even suggesting it will be reduced to junk status. toshiba shares fell as much as 9.4 percent this morning, before recovering somewhat, on reports that it may miss its earnings deadline for the third time. it's now expected that its shares will be demoted to the second section of the tokyo stock exchange in august. shareholders recently gave the green light to sell off the company's flash memory division, to raise at least $9 billion to cover us nuclear unit charges that threaten the conglomerate's future.

apple, amazon and google are said to be interested in the unit. toshiba still not out of the woods by any means with a third missing of its delivery on its earnings — that is the expectation anyway. csn. in other news: the senatejudiciary committee is expected to vote later on the nomination of neil gorsuch to join the us supreme court. they will vote on whether to to send his nomination to the senate floor. he'll need 60 votes in the senate to be confirmed, but the democratic leader chuck schumer says he doubts enough of his colleagues willjoin with the 52 republicans to support the nomination. preliminary results in ecuador‘s presidential election suggest a narrow victory for the former vice president — lenin moreno. with more than ninety—two percent of ballots counted, the leftist candidate had fifty—one

percent of the votes. his rival, the former banker guillermo lasso, is alleging electoral fraud and said he would contest the result. the serbian prime minister has won a clear big tree. he says he will continue to work for greater ties with europe and continuing relationship with the us and china. political parties in northern ireland are to begin a new round of talks today aimed at restoring the devolved government at stormont. last week a deadline to form a power—sharing executive passed without an agreement. the two largest parties — the democratic unionists and sinn fein — blame each other for the failure of the negotiations. tributes have been paid to the british civil liberties campaigner and broadcaster darcus howe. he's died at the age of 74. he came to mainstream attention in 1970 when he led a protest against police harassment of black

customers at a london restaurant. he was tried and acquitted. the bbc has seen evidence of so—called islamic state appearing to use children as human shields in the battle for mosul. it comes as the militants are all but surrounded in the old centre of iraq's second city and there's a growing concern over civilian casualties. we were given exclusive access to iraqi helicopter pilots — flying over mosul‘s front line. here's their report. far below, a city that was once home to two million people. we are flying with the helicopters of the iraqi army as they fight the so—called islamic state. we are now over old mosul, where the battle is at its fiercest, as well as the last isis fighters, there are many civilians still trapped in the narrow alleys.

and this footage, taken from our helicopter‘s camera, shows the challenges the pilots in mosulface. radio it shows armed men walking through a war zone with children. radio military sources have told the bbc this is the clearest example yet of the use of human shields in mosul. on the ground, major osama explains why human shields are effective. isis use the kids so they escape from our aircraft because they know we can't shoot on them. they escape by this way. but many civilians have been killed since the beginning of the war. mohammed is one of the most experienced pilots in the army. he says sometimes he has to trust to a higher power.

i ask my god, when i shoot every time, when i shoot the fire, "please, god, save the civilian, just kill the bad guys." the battle for mosul is notjust about taking back a city. it's about regaining the trust of its people. every civilian casualty undermines that work and so the iraqi forces have to take their time. translation: we have two reasons for slowing down. one is the civilians, the second is that we have got to old mosul. it's a difficult part of the city to fight in, full of narrow streets with small houses. it's ancient and crowded. back above mosul, the pilots circle, looking for targets. they spot a group gathered in an alley. the men have seen us too.

they shoot into the sky. the helicopter returns fire. it is clear why air power has been so vital. mosul is now surrounded but the battle for the old city will come at a cost. much of it paid by the civilians still trapped inside. nafiseh kouhnavard, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: andy warhol's iconic depiction of chairman mao is auctioned in hong kong. fantastic federer — the swiss maestro becomes the oldest miami master.

the accident that happened here was of the sort that can at worst produce a meltdown. in this case the precautions worked, but they didn't work quite well enough to prevent some old fears about the safety features of these stations from resurfacing. the republic of ireland has become the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace. from today, anyone lighting up in offices, businesses, pubs and restaurants will face a heavy fine. the president was on his way out of the washington hilton hotel, where he had been addressing a trade union conference. the small crowd outside included his assailant. it has become a symbol of paris. 100 years ago, many parisians wished it had never been built. the eiffel tower's birthday is being marked by a re—enactment of the first ascent by gustave eiffel.

this is bbc world news. i'm chris rogers. a reminder of our top story: rescue teams in colombia are continuing to search for survivors after devastating mudslides. 254 people are known to have died. 43 of them children. more now on our top story. our correspondent will grantjoins us on the line from bogota. willa moving address from the president of columbia, and no doubt a country reeling in shock at the death toll from this mudslide, and the devastation it is called —— it has caused. —— colombia. the devastation it is called —— it

has caused. -- colombia. that is right. juan manuel santos tried to speak to the country in grief, but try to offer hope. he said that they would lift mocoa up. he spoke specifically to those who had lost loved ones, and assisted that recovery is possible and that it would be possible to overcome the tragedy. but that is not to be easy, at least in the short term. emergency services have had a tough timejust reaching the emergency services have had a tough time just reaching the region. emergency services have had a tough timejust reaching the region. a lot of roads are cut off, and to indications are cut off too. water supplies and medicinal supplies will stop all this a huge challenge. —— communications are cot. the president seemed to suggest that they knew that a disaster like this

could happen. —— are cut. they knew that a disaster like this could happen. -- are cut. these events a re could happen. -- are cut. these events are not uncommon in this part of colombia. mocoa is at the co nflu e nce of colombia. mocoa is at the confluence of three different mountain ranges. those mountain ranges and hillsides have been headily deluded over the years, so when the run—off comes, it comes and gathers great speed. about 30 or 40% of the monthly rental came in a single night, to give you a scale of the sheer magnitude of the event. and there was really nothing the townspeople could do when this avalanche of rock and debris came through —— rainfall. avalanche of rock and debris came through -- rainfall. looking at the devastation, one wonders if colombia can ever rebuild these devastated areas and rebuild the lives of the people from those communities, without some outside help. they have

been down this path before. this is not the first event of its kind. it is certainly the biggest in a decade. but as presidentjuan manuel sa ntos said decade. but as presidentjuan manuel santos said to the nation, we have been here before and can come back from these events again. —— mocoa. whether that would be straightforward or they would have two lean on the international community for funds or support or backing, that is good to play out in the next few days. but i think for now, people are much more concentrated on just try to find their loved ones to account for the large number of children who have been killed in this terrible event, and of easily provide counselling and of easily provide counselling and grief support to those who have lost theirfamily and grief support to those who have lost their family members. many thanks to that. will grantjoining us thanks to that. will grantjoining us from bogota. gibraltar has said it won't be used as a "bargaining chip" in any brexit

deal the eu wants to reach with the uk. spain, which claims sovereignty of the british territory, could be given a veto over decisions affecting the rock. around 30,000 people live there with many spaniards coming into the territory to work. after its overwhelming vote to remain in the eu in last year's referendum, our correspondent tom burridge reports from gibraltar on the mood about the brexit talks. distinct and disputed. the rock's relationship with it neighbour has always been fractious. but spain is emboldened by brexit. cue defiance from this very gibraltarian and british cabbie. you can close the border down, you can starve us economically. at the end of the day, who ever remains here in gibraltar, there is only one person, one gibraltarian, gibraltar will still be british and gibraltarian under that one gibraltarian. that's all that counts, that's all that matters. britain's support for this british territory, today unflinching.

but there is concern here about what brexit will mean. we've just got to look at the interest and 30,000 people in gibraltar, and that importance to them. i don't think so. somehow we always manage to get by, so i'm sure we will find a way. gibraltar‘s moneymaking machine is a success story and its relationship with the eu has helped that happen. paul graham owns an investment company here. gibraltar desperately, from the financial services, but from all the other trade, we need, we need the eu market. so i think gibraltar will be fully exposed and i think spain will have some sort of sovereignty on gibraltar. because of the economic aspect. and with southern spain just over the border, still struggling with low growth and high unemployment, madrid has long argued that gibraltar‘s setup is unfair. gibraltar, in the european union has it all. it is an economic sweet spot with low taxes.

and access to spain, just over there and the rest of europe. but the rock is now a bargaining chip for the european side. and the wider negotiation between britain and the eu looks even more complicated. but a bad dealfor gibraltar and spaniards will also suffer. thousands come here for work. mercedes is hoping for the best. many, many people work in gibraltar. so gibraltar can go out to enjoy our places, you know? so there needs to be friendly agreement? yes, of course. gibraltar thrives on being a place apart and with our exit from the eu, its rocky relationship with its neighbour is in british hands. in tennis, roger federer continues to dominate the atp tour.

the former world number one beat rafael nadal in straight sets to claim his third miami masters title and first since 2006. watching wasjeremy betts. in the miami heat, it is advisable to stay cool under pressure. roger federer was able to do just that against his old nemesis, rafael nadal. federer had waited 11 years to reclaim this title, and was in no mood to wait any longer. a break in the spaniards serve in the first set was all he needed to take it 6—3. playing in his final without having won it, he struggled to keep his opponent down, but dug deep to keep it a close on the second. how about this for keeping a nerve at break point? his reaction said it all. he is enjoying a return form.

he has lostjust once in 2017, a that has seen him when his 18th major title in a straight. in the ninth game, the former world number one 100 up a opportunity that a decisive. —— title in australia. he was able to service out to claim his third title this season. it is amazing to win miami back—to—back. the last time i was in the finals here was 11 years ago, against my coach. it has been a great journey here in against my coach. it has been a greatjourney here in miami. he now takes a prolonged break before the french open starts in may. to the english premier league and arsene wenger‘s record of always qualifying for the champions league as arsenal manager is in serious doubt. they remain in sixth place after a 2—2 draw against manchester city. it means they are seven points behind their opponents — who are in the last champions league spot. arsenal have only won one

of their last six league games. an andy warhol portrait of chairman mao has been sold at a historic auction in hong kong, to an asian collector. but the piece didn't manage to generate the frenzied level of buying that had been anticipated. here's our hong kong correspondentjuliana liu. 80 million... 82 million... at 86 million... and selling for $86 million. sold! when the hammer came down, this iconic painting of chairman mao was sold for $11 million. it was the first time a warhol depiction of the chairman had been offered at a public auction on chinese soil. the price, though, unexpectedly fell short of its lowest estimate. the absolute star of the auction was this piece by andy warhol. but the sale disappointed, the painting failed to fetch as much money as the auction house expected. critics say that it could be because the chinese art world is recovering from a crackdown by the president xi jinping. political imagery is highly

controlled on the mainland. four years ago, pieces from this series of paintings were banned from an exhibition in beijing and shanghai. the mao pieces were part of andy warhol's most acclaimed works. he began the series in 1973, after the us president, richard nixon, made a historic trip to china, to meet the chairman. at the time, mao zedong was one of the world's most famous people. the painting was won by a collector in asia, so it is a homecoming, of sorts, for this famous portrayal of a chinese icon by a western artist. juliana liu, bbc news, hong kong. coming up injust a couple of minutes, sally has all the latest business news in world business report. we will keep you updated as well on the developments around the world. lots more information at

bbc.com/news. let's look at the weather where you are now though. hello there, last week we had the warmest day of the year so far with 22 degrees recorded on thursday. this week, we keep the dry theme but just that bit fresher. as a consequence through the night, we could see some chilly nights and a touch of light frost in rural parts. these frost in rural parts. dry theme continues for many of these dry theme continues for many of us throughout this week, but it will be a little bit fresher, and that will lead to some chilly nights. that said, we have some rain around today. it will be fairly light and showery in nature from these weather fronts spilling from these weather fronts spilling from the west. that means there will be more of every today through the west the best of the sunshine again into the best of the sunshine again into the south—east. maybe a little on the south—east. maybe a little on the misty side first thing. the cloud and breeze picking up to the west throughout the day. that does mean through the middle of the afternoon, we will see rain into

northern and western scotland, maybe isn't scotland escaping the worse. even singsin sunshine. there will be shahriar alam breaks of rain into northern ireland, ten or 11 degrees the take a dive. clouding over the la ke the take a dive. clouding over the lake district into west wales. but across central and eastern parts of england, poses an hour. 17 or 18 degrees. the only exception really close to the coast. some coastal fog could linger across that kent coast and through sussex, so temperatures could struggle. those fronts will drift east through monday might into tuesday. it will bring a band of cloud and drizzly rain here as well. behind it, somewhat brighter, fresher weather. breezy, with a scattering of showers to the northern western scotland. there will be a deal of dry weather in the story, with the rain is uefa the south—east. but the day is rather overcast. ten to 15 the high and 2000. the pressure builds as we move

from tuesday into wednesday, just allowing these weather fronts to topple across the top into scandinavia. but that does mean that the winds will be straitly stronger and from the north—westerly direction as we go through the middle of the week. so few feel that little bit fresher than the temperature suggested to the far north, a good slice of such i could be fell elsewhere, with highs of 30 to 40 celsius. enjoy your week. —— 13 or 14. this is bbc world news. the headlines: rescue teams in colombia are continuing to search for anyone who might have survived the devastating mudslides in the south of the country. the president has said 254 people are known to have died — 43 of them children. president trump has indicated that the united states would be prepared to act alone to counter a north korean nuclear threat. he's reported to have said the us could take action if china did not put more pressure on pyongyang. the bbc has seen evidence

of so—called islamic state appearing to use children as human shields in the battle for mosul. it comes as the militants are all but surrounded in the old centre of iraq's second city. gibraltar has said it won't be used as a "bargaining chip" in any brexit deal the eu wants to reach with the uk. spain, which claims sovereignty of the british territory,