this is bbc world news. our top stories: the us slaps sanctions on two men it claims are "key leaders" of north korea's ballistic missile programme. counting is under way in the run—off presidential election in liberia. brazil retaliates for venezuela's expulsion of its envoy, claiming political interference. a fireworks display in cuba goes horribly wrong. doctors fear for the lives of some of the injured. the united states has announced sanctions on two officials who are developing north korea's ballistic missile programme. in a statement, the us treasury named the men, on the left, ri pyong—chol, and on the right, kimjong—sik. treasury secretary steve mnuchin added, "treasury is targeting leaders of north korea's ballistic missile programmes, as part of our maximum pressure campaign to isolate north korea and achieve a fully denuclearised korean peninsula."

pyong chol is believed to be one of the top people in charge of the controversial programme. kimjong sik is thought to be behind the work to switch from liquid to solid fuel. new united nations sanctions were introduced last friday in response to north korea's latest intercontinental ballistic missile test in november. earlier, i spoke with dr balbina hwang, visiting professor at georgetown university's centre for security studies. she explained what effect, if any, these sanctions are likely to have. well, we have to remember that there are un security council sanctions as well is unilateral sanctions and these latest sanctions levied by the united states government are targeting individuals. these are really symbolic more than anything else.

they are a very important part of president trump's maximum pressure on north korea, but they will have little practical effect because it is only about us jurisdiction and it is unlikely either of these two men have any assets, certainly in their name, or any property in the united states. and i suppose the broader problem is that china and north korea and russia want to see the us off the peninsula altogether so at least china and russia will continue their support for pyongyang. certainly they will. the un security council sanctions are important because it sends a strong unified message but it is a very subtle and possibly a triple layered game that is being played. this is in the context of quite a lot of disorder and chaos in the united nations itself with the united states isolated on many other global issues. if china, russia, north korea and to some extent

south korea are on the same page, and an alignment between us and japan, how will that play out? the united states and south korea and japan are all firmly on the same side. the president of south korea has made absolutely certain that he is fully behind these sanctions and also wants to increase the pressure but at the same time, he is talking about wanting a peaceful solution and frankly so, as has the trump administration. they've made this point repeatedly. it does seem that the north korean leadership is not suicidal. it doesn't want war but it has no intention of giving up its nuclear weapons, it seems. will the world have to get used to a nuclear armed north korea? the thing here is the global

non—proliferation regime and north korea is testing this, but the real fear is if we do accept north korea as a de facto legitimate nuclear power, that means essentially iran, perhaps syria and many other countries could break away, so we have a much greater global concern here. professor, thank you very much for talking to us. counting is under way in a runoff election to choose the next president of liberia. it is a straight fight between the current vice president, joseph boakai, and world renowned footballer george weah. umaru fofana reports from the capital, monrovia. voting went peacefully with no reports of incidents. accompanied by his supporters, vice presidentjoseph boakai cast his vote. he sounded confident. asked as to whether he would accept the results he responded with a qualified yes. after that a decision will be made. we are willing to work for whatever the final result is. for supporters of the former

football superstar george weah, it looked like a victory dance when he went to vote. the man who won in the first round sounded confident. i'm not associated with losing. i will win. boakai cannot win, and george weah can. what happened cannot happen again. initial indications are that the run—off was better organised than the first round. materials arrived on time and there have been no complaints so far of multiple voting according to the main local observation group. turnout seemed low. it has been quiet here at this high school. election officials are nibbling around without a lot to do. they say there's been like this for most of the day. only one person has come

here in the last 30 minutes to cast their vote. with a result expected this week, liberians are looking forward to the outcome. this is the first time in over 70 years that this country has set the stage for a peaceful transfer of power from one elected president to another. the international committee of the red cross says the evacuation of critical medical cases has begun from eastern ghouta in syria. the suburb near damascus has been under rebel control. almost 400,000 people there are besieged by forces loyal to president bashar al—assad. the united nations had pleaded for him to allow the evacuation of patients who would die without medical care. vladimir putin has been formally nominated by his supporters for re—election as russia's president. his main rival, alexei navalny, has been barred from standing. he has called for a boycott of the vote. mr putin is seeking a fourth term in office, and will run as an independent. from moscow, sarah rainsford reports. it was a big gathering

of big names — athletes, musicians and filmmakers all here to nominate their candidate for president. absent from this presidential nomination was vladimir putin, apparently so confident of winning this election he did not turn up. that did not dampen the enthusiasm of his supporters. they voted unanimously to back mr putin for a fourth term. translation: our country has been transformed from a country that was destroyed and without future, into a really powerful state. their candidate, meanwhile, was here with children invited to a new year's party at the kremlin. this was vladimir putin the benevolent. thinking of the future of his country. earlier, russian saw images of putin the powerful meeting his cabinet. here he told a boy that ruling a country like russia was not hard. but after 18 years of him doing just that, the kremlin is struggling

to inject energy into this re—election race to ensure people come out to vote when everything is so predictable. this man is now planning to make their task even harder. alexei navalny calls himself the only real rival to vladimir putin but this week the popular anticorru ption campaigner was ruled out of the presidential race. he has a criminal conviction he says is politically motivated. translation: it is not about me. it is about the fact that a candidate is needed who will finally come to the election and speak openly about everything that happens in our country now, who will describe our reality honestly. absence of prospects, poverty. i did that and that is why you don't want to let me take part in the election.

so now, mr navalny is calling for a boycott of the whole process, to undermine its legitimacy. mr putin will not be too worried unless that boycott and any street protests really grow. otherwise, he is betting that his message of strength and stability and plenty more images like these will secure him another six years in power. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. a heavy snowstorm in the file is of russia has caused disruption. —— far east. many have been forced to walk as public transport ground to a halt. some were taken to hospital after being blown off of a balcony.

angry kosovans have hung hundreds of neckties on the fence outside the government's headquarters on tuesday. it's after prime minister ramush haradi—naj said he was justified in doubling his own salary, because wearing smart clothes was part of his job. he sparked outrage by passing a measure raising his salary from about $1,800 to $3,500 dollars a month. a peruvian football official accused of taking bribes has been cleared by a jury in the us. manuel burga, who led football in peru until 2014, was accused of taking cash in exchange for distributing marketing and media rights to matches. two other south american football officials were convicted by the same jury on friday. a british woman has been sentenced to three years in an egyptian prison after being found guilty of smuggling drugs into the country. laura plummer, who's 33 and from england's north, was arrested in october when she was found carrying 290 tablets of the painkiller, tramadol, in her suitcase. daniela relph reports. laura plummer‘s family and friends say she is naive, not a criminal. but today, the 33—year—old shop

workerfrom hull is beginning a three—year sentence injail in egypt. her mother, roberta, and her egyptian partner, omar caboo, have been at court to support her during the hearings this week. laura plummer had been travelling to the red sea resort of hurghada to visit omar in october when she was stopped by the authorities. in her suitcase were 290 tramadol tablets, a painkiller which is legal on prescription in britain, but banned in egypt. she said the tablets were for her partner, who suffers from severe back pain, but she was arrested and has been held since then in a communal cell with up to 25 women. herfamily at home in hull have described today's sentence as horrendous. she's just a normal girl who works in hull. she just sells clothes, she comes home, she watches telly and she goes to bed. she doesn't drink, she doesn't smoke, she doesn't do anything. she lives to go to egypt.

she loves egypt. she loves the egyptian people. she's in love with omar. we cannot believe this has happened to her. we are absolutely devastated. her supporters say she has been let down by the country she has loved. the foreign office says it will continue to provide support to laura and herfamily. it also says its embassy in egypt is in regular contact with the authorities there. this woman doesn't deserve to be incarcerated in an egyptian prison and, to be honest with you, as much as i respect the customs of egypt and the laws and the judiciary and everything else, this will put people off travelling on holiday to egypt in the future, and i think the egyptian authorities need to be mindful of that. the egyptian legal system is complex. laura plummer will now appeal against the three—year sentence, a jail term her family say is shocking and unjust. daniela relph, bbc news. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: we meet a sea lion brushing up on a special skill as the new year approaches.

we saw this enormous tidal wave approaching the beach, and people started to run, and suddenly it was complete chaos. the united states troops have been trying to overthrow the dictatorship of general manuel noriega. the pentagon said the operation had been 90% successful but it's failed in its principal objective — to capture general noriega and take him to the us to face drugs charges. the hammer and sickle was hastily taken away. the russian flag was hoisted over what is now no longer the soviet union, but the commonwealth of independent states. day breaks slowly over lockerbie, over the cockpit of pan am's maid of the seas, nosedown in the soft earth. you could see what happens when a plane eight storeys high, a football pitch wide, falls from 30,000 feet. christmas has returned to albania after a communist ban lasting more than 20 years.

thousands went to midnight mass in the town of shkoder where there were anti—communist riots ten days ago. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines. two north korean missile developers are hit with sanctions as efforts to curb the country's nuclear programme continue. votes are being counted in liberia, where a presidential election run—off has been taking place between a former international football star, george weah, and the current vice president, joseph boakai. brazil is expelling venezuela's top diplomat, just days after venezuela asked brazil's ambassador to leave. relations between the two neighbouring nations have deteriorated since michel temer took office in brazil last year, after dilma rousseff was impeached. leonardo rocha is americas editor of the bbc world service, he told me more about the spat. brazil decided to act three days after its own ambassador was expelled from venezuela. brazil said he is not

welcome any more. he will have to leave the country. the whole crisis started on saturday when venezuelan decided to expel the top diplomats from brazil and canada on the same day. canada retaliated on monday with the same measure. relations have been bad. brazil in particular, the president, nicolas maduro, never recognised the government of michel temer, because dilma rousseff was a left—wing socialist president close to his government. they were building together oil pipelines to take venezuela's oil and gas to brazil. there was a strategic left—wing partnership in south america

that has gone. so, the reason given by venezuelan to expel the ambassador is because he broke the constitutional rule of law by impeaching dilma rousseff. they say relations would not be mended until that is sorted which is possibly never, because dilma rousseff has that going on. it is a difficult issue. video has emerged of a fireworks display that went horribly wrong at a popular festival in cuba. 39 people were injured, including children. doctors have some of the injured listed as "very grave" to "extremely critical." virginia langeberg reports. the moment christmas celebrations sparked into terrifying chaos. fireworks are flying in all directions, what was intended as entertainment, ended up

as a barrage of missiles. raining on spectators as they ran from the scene. people can be heard screaming during the harrowing video captured during a popular cuban carnival on christmas eve. the incident has left 39 people injured, including six children. of those taken to hospital, doctors say 20 are seriously injured, with some clinging to life. translation: we have six patients in extremely critical conditions, which is the most grave status of a burn victims. two are in very grave condition. the central town has this festival every christmas eve, drawing thousands of tourists. all of the victims up to be locals. an investigation is thought to be under way into the cause

of the explosion. english footballer, harry kane, has set a new record of 39 goals in the premier league in a calendar year — doing it in style with a hat trick at wembley. kane headed in a free kick from christian erikson to give tottenham hotspur a 1—0 lead over southampton and break alan shearer‘s 22—year record. a second goal followed just before half time as he swept in a cross from son heung—min. midway through the second half, son was the provider again, as kane completed his hat trick with a delicate chip over the keeper. that takes his haulfor club and country to 56 goals, making him the leading goalscorer in europe for 2017. earlier the bbc spoke to bradley allen. he has been a coach at spurs for 13 years and coached harry kane as a youngster. he also witnessed harry kane make history at wembley as a co—commentator for bbc radio london. my colleague began by asking him what he made of his new record? it's a remarkable achievement. something that all of

tottenham hotspur supporters, everybody connected with the club, the academy, and all the coaches who have worked with harry kane on this incredible journey, it has been an outstanding 2017. have you spoken to him? has anyone heard from him since? i have not had the opportunity. i actually watched him live this afternoon, working in my media capacity. i have seen him develop and have worked with him as a 14—15—year—old kid. he went from strength to strength to become the goalscoring expert he is. to break the alan shearer record himself, the finest of a generation, this is just an unbelievable achievement. did you spot it early? were the signs there? he showed glimpses. one of the biggest compliments i could give him is he wasjust a fantastic learner.

it is just a small part the coaches have played along the way. the head of the academy, john mcdermot, he deserves a lot of credit as well. we were patient with him. mauricio pochettino has allowed him to blossom since coming to the club. can you explain what it is he does so well? strength? speed? skill? what makes him so good? any idea he was given, he would be prepared to work on those aspects of his game and more, you know? i think he's a player of frank lampard's attitude. frank lampard really got the maximum amount of the ability that he had. and the same with young harry. you know? he comes from a tremendously stable

and very supportive family. he's just a lovely and humble young man. he is a real credit to himself and the people around him. how big is his future career, potentially, do you think? well, this achievement is exceptional. i think tottenham supporters will be hoping in future years, with the new stadium on the horizon in 2018, that harry kane is going to play his best football at that new venue, i think. you have the world cup in russia next summer, of course. and to be truly regarded as one of the greats, harry would most definitely know he would have to achieve and produce at the biggest tournament. he will be looking forward to that. first and foremost, he loves playing for tottenham hotspur. he thoroughly enjoys scoring goals. tattoos are becoming a much

bigger business in china. a stronger economy means more people will spend the money to get one, and more people will join the industry. but in such socially conservative cultures, tattoos can also give a false impression of the person under the ink. in shanghai, recently dubbed china's to schumacher, bodyguard is blocking social trends. years ago when people see a man habitat to they would sink oh maybe he went to jail. is a woman habitat to that was a big deal and people were shocked. ok how can you have a family, how can you have a

job was to mark how can your family accept you? from hotelto job was to mark how can your family accept you? from hotel to studio, 110w accept you? from hotel to studio, now going for 11 years, she has witnessed first—hand how the industry has spread in socially conservative china. 70% of her own bodyis conservative china. 70% of her own body is tattooed. right now it is much better. when people see attached if they think it is a good thing, it means you are different. it even spreads outside of china's cosmopolitan centres. translation: it even spreads outside of china's cosmopolitan centres. translationzlj have a lot of friends from cities outside shanghai. they are curious about how tattoos can have so many colours and affect. hears from a city in china's far north and she says bodyguard is getting big there. isa says bodyguard is getting big there. is a chance for people to express themselves using the body as a canvas. attacker was a representation of yourself. if you

wa nted representation of yourself. if you wanted to go for it. there has been a white christmas in the state of pennsylvania this year. over 50 centimetres of snow. it is not all snow and games, a state of emergency has been declared but video uploaded to social media shows backyards covered, and dogs playing ina winter backyards covered, and dogs playing in a winter wonderland. next after christmas is new year. but one special animal injapan is thinking a little further ahead — looking forward to the lunar new year. and this animal is trying to develop a special skill, in preparation. tim allman explains. this is one of the stars of the show. he is no ordinary sea lion. he has literary aspirations. with quite a bit of help from his trainer, he is trying his hand at calligraphy. that is something that sea

lions have a natural gift for, apparently. translation: it is a very smart animal and can perform delicate movements, so he is good at doing this. we want to practise more so he can perform cooled drawings on new year's day. and what exactly has he been drawing? well, it is the symbol for a dog, the animal that will represent the new year in the chinese zodiac. his audience seemed fairly impressed. he still has a little time to practise. the lunar new year does not begin until february. tim allman, bbc news. much more on the news at any time on oui’ much more on the news at any time on our website. thank you for watching. hello there.

some of us have already seen snow already this festive season. for a few more, we're starting wednesday on a wintry note. we have an area of low pressure. this cloud drifting northwards in the cold air. while the system is delivering rain, mixed in with that, sleet and snow drifting across southern and south—eastern areas to start the day. further north and west, especially, northern england, northern ireland, scotland, potential for icy stretches with clear skies through the night. through the day, scotland, northern ireland, western areas of england and wales, that will have the best of the sunshine. towards the south and east, struggling to improve through the day. skies improving for the likes of oxfordshire and berkshire. but the london area will stay pretty cloudy. across kent, up into east anglia, here, outbreaks of rain sleet and snow mixed in right through the afternoon, coupled with a strong northerly wind. that combination could actually cause a little bit of disruption. but across northern england,

half of scotland, a fine and crisp and cold sunny afternoon. some wintry showers filtering down into northern scotland. showers filtering into northern ireland. three degrees in belfast. a scattering of showers in wales. the west midlands and parts of the south—west as well. sunny spells in between. temperatures, four degrees in plymouth. a cold and fairly breezy day wherever you are. wednesday night, staying cold. temperatures widely dipping below freezing. again, that will lead to some icy stretches. still one or two showers in northern fringes particularly. temperatures close to freezing, perhaps below in some spots. thursday, this bump in the isobars, the ridge of high pressure, promising a decent day for many. yes, a cold and frosty start. but we will see some good spells of sunshine. still some wintry showers in the north.

then a change to the south—west. clouding over, with outbreaks of rain temporarily. snow on the leading edge, especially on the high ground. cold at this stage, six degrees at best. a breezy day. notice, down towards the south—west. temperatures just beginning to climb. 10 degrees in plymouth. taking that that trend with us as we go to the weekend. temperatures climbing into double digits in places. but there'll be a lot of cloud, it'll often be windy, and there will be outbreaks of rain at times. this is bbc news. the headlines: the us has imposed sanctions on two north korean officials it says are "key leaders" in developing north korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programme. on friday, the un imposed new sanctions. analysts have told the bbc they are unlikely to be effective and are largely symbolic. pyongyang has described them as an "act of war." efforts to evacuate critically ill

patients in a beseiged area of syria have begun. it's understood that four patients have been moved from east ghouta to a damscus hospital, the first of 29 to be transported for medical treatment. the un has pleaded with the syrian government to allow the evacuation of around 500 people. votes are being counted in liberia in the presidential election run—off between the former international football star, george weah, and the current vice president, joseph boakai. there are hopes for the first smooth transfer of power in 73 years. now on bbc news: victoria derbyshire takes a look back at the exclusive interviews and films featured on her programme in 2017. it begins with women talking frankly about intimate health issues.