welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america on pbs and around the globe. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories: the united states is criticised by fellow un security council members for calling an emergency meeting over protests in iran. the author of a damning book on donald trump says he stands by everything he wrote in his depiction of a chaotic white house. i will tell you the one description that everyone gave, everyone has in common they all say he is like a child. at least 19 people have died, and temperatures could fall to minus a0 in some places this weekend. hello and welcome to bbc news.

the un security council is holding an emergency meeting on the deadly protests in iran. it was called by the us ambassador nikki haley after a week in which the trump administration expressed strong support for the protesters. the meeting went ahead despite objections from russia and some other council members. our state department correspondent barbara plett—usher reports. nikki haley warned around the world was watching its response the anti—government protest. —— iran. she used the un platform to apple by the message of resident trump and treating support of the demonstrators. the united states stands unapologetically with those in iran who seek freedom to themselves, prosperity for their families, and dignity for their nation. we will not be quiet. this

unusually robust stance on human rights to the trump administration coincides with a policy to curb what it sees as one's aligned influence in the middle east. iranians ambassador called the meeting a fast and repeated charges that the protest were directed from a board which nikki haley denied. there is a long history of us leading at the un. but this is a preposterous example. purely internal affairs of the nation, in this case protest that the uranium government has addressed with dallas respect for the rights of the protesters and with every attempt to deal with peacefully. despite violent infiltrators and direct encouragement by foreign forces, including by the president of the united states. other council members urged tehran to allow free and

peaceful demonstrations but some suggested this was an internal matter, not an international threat. and the russian ambassador accused the us of playing politics. translation: mr president, the real reason for convening today's meeting is not an attempt to protect human rights or promote the interest of the uranium people but rather as a veiled attempt to use the current moment to continue to undermine the joint comprehensive plan of action. but as the agreement which restricts iran's plan of action which is the trump this is deeply flawed. it has to decide next week whether to continue to waive sanctions agreed to under the deal. peter bowes is our north america correspondent. we expecting anything of substance to come from this meeting? it is difficult to see anything from coming out of

this meeting, it seems to have been an opportunity, certainly from many countries, to display their concern for the us attitude towards these protest on the streets of iran. there was certainly a lot of arm—twisting involved officials, us officials, nicky bailey the ambassador said she wanted to hold the meeting and was successful in getting it but certainly there wasn't universal support for it and we heard from the iranian ambassador speaking in very strong terms, saying that the us had really overstepped its authority, its position as a permanent member of the security council to get this to happen. and if anything, the us would have got the message that isn't universal support for its attitude towards this issue. as barbara just mentioned towards the end of person —— reports there, next week could be a more important week in terms of us— iran relations. week could be a more important week in terms of us- iran relations. yes, and that is because president trump faces a decision. he has to decide

whether to sign documents that would really continue the suspension of sanctions against iran and he has of course made no secret of the fact that he opposes the nuclear deal which was negotiated by the obama administration in 2015 along with five other nations, and it was a campaign pledge of president trump to do away with that agreement. so he has a decision, does the essentially go along with that by signing the document and continuing the sanctions, or does he take an alternative view? if he does, it would certainly put pressure on the iranian regime and it would perhaps be the beginning of the process of coming up with a solution to rip apart that agreement, something that he promised his supporters. so in a sense, domestic us policies or promises that the president has made to his supporters could come into play here when he makes this

important decision. peter, thank you. for more on the situation in iran, including more information about the fallout from the emergency un security council meeting, simply head to our website — bbc.com/news. you can also download the bbc news app. dozens of passengers have been moved to safety after two planes collided at an airport in canada. it happened at toronto's pearson international airport, when a plane pushing back from a gate hit an arriving jet. the collision between the two aircraft — from sunwing airlines and westjet airlines — resulted in a fire which was soon put out. some passengers were evacuated using the escape chutes and there were no reports of any injuries. the author of a controversial new book about donald trump's first year as us president says everyone he spoke to at the white house described the president as like a child in need of instant gratification. the book, called fire and fury, has gone on sale four days early, despite the white house trying

to block its publication. president trump has called it "a phoney book full of lies". 0ur north america editor jon sopel reports. not quite harry potter, but they were queuing to get their hands on fire and fury. and if donald trump had the powers of the young wizard, he'd have made this book disappear. but he doesn't, and this damning portrait is now available for everyone to read. what i'm most looking forward to is seeing what we all know is going on just below the surface. i'm expecting the white house to be as absolutely dysfunctional as the leaks would make it seem. i don't think anyone really gets tired of palace intrigue. the picture it paints of life in the west wing is unsparing — allegations of marital strain, of tears and tantrums, of dysfunction and improvisation. and, at the epicentre of every storm, donald j trump. i will tell you the one description that everyone gave,

everyone has in common — they all say he is like a child. and what they mean by that is he has a need for immediate gratification. it's all about him. and the gravest charge of all? wolff alleges that a number of his unnamed sources told him that the president was mentally unfit to remain in office — a charge that brought this response from the president's spokeswoman. it's disgraceful and laughable. if he was unfit, he probably wouldn't be sitting there and wouldn't have defeated the most qualified group of candidates that the republican party has ever seen. the president has been on twitter to rubbish the book saying: but that's not how michael wolff remembers it.

i absolutely spoke to the president. whether he realised it was an interview or not, i don't know, but it certainly was not off the record. the author says he stands by every word. although with anonymous sources, it's hard to fact—check. the most remarkable thing about this is given michael wolff's track record, why white house staff gave him access to the inner sanctum of the west wing for months on end as virtually a semi—resident. the author was asked this morning what he had to say about the threatening legal letter the president's lawyers had sent. his reply? "where do i send the box of chocolates?" jon sopel, bbc news, washington. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. heavy flooding in the democratic republic of congo has killed at least 37 people. torrential rains caused landslides and a river running through the capital kinshasa to overflow. ten million people live in the city, where the problems have been made worse by poor drainage

and unauthorised building around the waterways. thousands of catalans have shown their support for jailed pro—independence leaders at the traditional three kings parade. on friday, spain's supreme court ordered former catalonian vice—president 0rioljunqueras to remain in custody after over two months in prison while authorities investigate his role in the spanish region's independence movement. the 0scar—winning producer and director paul haggis has been accused of sexual misconduct by four women. a civil lawsuit filed by a publicist last month, accusing the canadian film—maker of rape, has prompted three other women to come forward. mr haggis, who directed the film crash, has denied the original allegation. his lawyer says the latest claims were also untrue. apple has said it recently discovered flaws in some computer processor chips that affect all iphones, ipads, and mac computers.

the flaws could allow hackers to steal personal information from devices, but there's no evidence this has happened. the firm says it will release updates within days. temperatures along the east coast of america are expected to fall as low as minus a0 degrees celsius in the coming hours as a brutal cold spell continues into the weekend. at least 19 people have died since a powerful blizzard hit much of the east coast on thursday. the storm also caused floods which have now frozen in the record—breaking temperatures, adding to the problems. thousands of flights have also been cancelled. from new york, laura trevelyan reports. the morning after the snow cyclone and this was the scene in one part of massachusetts. an all out effort is under way to clear mountains of

snow but the subzero conditions are making life very difficult. even the sea has frozen in areas of new england. the winter hurricane conditions have brought not only heavy snowfall but flooding too. in crystal massachusetts, strong winds coincided with a high tide so that in boston, there was a three foot storm surge. the city's mayor is blaming the change in climate. we are keeping an eye on all of those different flooding is and if anyone wa nts to different flooding is and if anyone wants to question global warming, see where the flood zones are. those zones see where the flood zones are. those zones didn't flood 30 years ago. not farfrom zones didn't flood 30 years ago. not far from boston, at zones didn't flood 30 years ago. not farfrom boston, at the beach town of revere, the floods that engulfed the streets are frozen in place, trapping cars in ice. the brutal conditions closed new york's major airports, but they have now reopened, new yorkers are trying to ta ke reopened, new yorkers are trying to take it all in their frozen stride. i'm so bundled up, i have so many layers, i feel 0k right

i'm so bundled up, i have so many layers, ifeel 0k right now. as long asigo layers, ifeel 0k right now. as long as i go quickly to work, i'm 0k.|j just wanted to be over with, it has been way too long and i wanted to nice and warm again. the race is on to clear away the snow in manhattan before it turns into dangerous ice. the storm brought in all this cold airfrom the arctic the storm brought in all this cold air from the arctic and so in the storm brought in all this cold airfrom the arctic and so in its aftermath, we are due to have subzero temperatures for the next few days. it is so cold out here, -10 few days. it is so cold out here, —10 celsius, but already i can hardly feel my fingers all my toes. and the freezing temperatures are prompting many americans to experiment. this particular trick is proving very popular in the deep freeze. kenneth craig from cbs has been braving the storm in boston for much of the day. we can speak to him live there. how is it looking tonight? i'll tell you what a difference 2a hours has made. we were out here last night, back again out here tonight and i

can tell you temperatures have absolutely plummeted. when we were standing out here on the streets of boston last night temperatures were 24 boston last night temperatures were 2a degrees and the snow was coming down. you can see it has finally stopped at now we are hovering at about eight degrees, the wind is gusting upwards of 50 miles an hour in some places, that means it feels like innovative ex—demon up to —25 fahrenheit. below zero. take a look around and you can see the yourself things are slowly, despite all of the cold and wind, getting back to normal here in the city. you can see traffic is moving, crews have done a remarkablejob at traffic is moving, crews have done a remarkable job at clearing all of the snow off the roadways and off the snow off the roadways and off the sidewalks. subways are running. buses are running. but the second round is now coming and that is his arctic blast we are starting to experience now in the single digits tonight, temperatures are expected tonight, temperatures are expected to get even more overnight and only supposed to be in the whole layers of maybe six or seven, eight degrees tomorrow with these double digit

negative windchill that we have. my goodness. we have been hearing about some quite tragic deaths because of the cold weather. are you hearing? u nfortu nately we have cou nted unfortunately we have counted 22 or so people who have died as the storm has made its way up the east coast and now off the coast. many of those people were in car accidents and accidents with ploughs and that type of thing. some people are dying of hypothermia. this is dangerous called. if you are outside you shouldn't be up for very long. you need to be bundled up outside. we are wearing a lot of layers, to protect us from the cold and wind. we appreciate you being out there for us. thank you. turning to another catastrophic weather event. in madagascar, a tropical cyclone has made landfall along the

north—eastern coast. it brings with it the risk of massive floods and mudslides. the storm comes less than one year after the island was slammed by a storm which claimed 78 lives and displaced thousands. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: it's the world's most expensive vodka. but who had the bottle to steal it from a bar in copenhagen? the japanese people are in mourning following the death of emperor hirohito. thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it announced he was dead. good grief! after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. the singer paul simon starts his tour of south africa tomorrow, in spite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. they say international artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority

rule is established. teams were trying to scoop up lumps of oil as france recognises it faces an ecological crisis. three weeks ago, the authorities confidently assured these areas that the oil from the broken tanker erika would head out to sea. it didn't. the world's tallest skyscraper opens later today. the burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rivals. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the united states has been criticised by fellow un security council members for calling an emergency meeting over protests in iran. the author of a damning book on donald trump says he stands by everything he wrote in his depiction of a chaotic white house. 13 people have been killed after a boat sank in indonesia.

it's the second fatal accident in less than a week, with nine more killed on new year's day. indonesia has had several boats capsize in recent years. the latest happened on the musi river near palembang in south sumatra. police say the captain survived but has disappeared and they're now investigating whether the boat should have been carrying passengers. search teams approaching the wreckage of a boat which capsized on thursday carrying 55 people onboard. 13 are known to have died, their bodies washing along the musi river in south sumatra, but more are missing, including the captain. police say they are investigating whether the boat was seaworthy. three days earlier and other boat capsized killing nine of those onboard. that was travelling in

borneo. but travelling between the islands is essential but issues are common. in july last year 8 islands is essential but issues are common. injuly last year 8 people drowned on the same route under similar circumstances. 0n drowned on the same route under similar circumstances. on new year's day in 2016 and tourist boat caught fire carrying 250 holidaymakers celebrating the new year. but the three people died. —— 23. with 17,000 islands in indonesia's archipelago, people rely on boat every day but the industry has a patchy safety record. police are now investigating the latest accident and save the captain's assistant is now being questioned. sir ridley scott's true—life kidnap drama, all the money in the world, is destined to go down in cinema history as the film that kevin spacey was in, and then wasn't. spacey played the rich oil tycoonjohn paul getty, but he was dropped from the film and replaced with christopher plummerjust six weeks before its release. will gompertz spoke to sir ridley.

initially, it was a commercial decision which would be maybe a little hand—in—hand with a moral decision, but, you know, you can't take the artist and actually, whatever a person decides to do in their private life, it doesn't harm others, you've got to separate them from what they do as an artist or as a person, as a clever person. mr getty? your grandson! he has been kidnapped! i've seen the movie and it is completely seamless, but what was, of course, running through my head, is it a much different movie with plummer, not spacey? kevin spacey did a fantastically good job. it was cool and chillier. christopher comes with this inordinate charm, a smile and his twinkle, so when, in fact, he is doing the same words, the same text as kevin, the twinkle and smiles somehow make him that much more effective. do you think it will — we are looking at a moment

in hollywood where things actually are going to change, where the sexism will subside and women will get a fair crack of the whip, or do you think it is window dressing? i think a bit of each. i think there will be an immediate change, because they should be. it's long — way, way overdue. you know, i've never experienced any of those things that you described in my life and my companies — frankly, i have women running my companies. i've always been a great supporter of strong women without actually ever thinking about it — which is, i think, the best way. i've just got great respect for women in general. maybe it came from my mum — i had a very strong mother who brought up three pretty stalwart sons and all of us are very independent and very tough. it is something you have witnessed a lot in hollywood, that women being mistreated? never! never, never, never! and if i — if it came in front of me, i would immediately step on it.

but not — not really. i have always treated every, you know, actor or actress with the greatest respect. a new run of all 140—year—old opera is opening this weekend in florence. what's different about this interpretation of carmen is how it ends. this is the final rehearsal before the curtain rises on the latest production of carmen. one of the world's most beloved operas, it has been performed thousands of times. but there is something special about this run of the show — a new ending. translation: carmen's desire for freedom becomes self defence. this is what is going to happen. there is no premeditation. it is simply self defence. carmen becomes the object

of donjose's affection. when she falls for someone else, he becomes wild with jealousy. in the last act, carmen is stabbed to death by donjose, but not this time. the director says he was hesitant initially, but that it made sense the opera should change with the times. translation: we see carmen in the whole opera tormented by donjose's rather obsessive violence. he is not onlyjealous but also very possessive. in the final moment when she is certain she will die, she finds a way to defend herself with an extreme gesture. this time, the heroine survives... gunshot ..able to shoot her would—be killer

instead of becoming his victim. it is a stand against violence and the mistreatment of women. the new version of the show has already sold out. a bottle of vodka, thought to be the most expensive in the world, has been found empty after being stolen from a bar in denmark earlier this week. the bbc‘s tim allman reports. as bottles of vodka go, this one is really rather special. made of white and yellow gold with a diamond—encrusted replica of the russian imperial eagle on its cap, it's almost one ofa kind. it was on loan at this bar in copenhagen when a masked intruder made off with it in the middle of the night.

but now, only a few days later, the bottle — although not its contents — have been recovered. translation: we got a call from a man working at a construction site saying he had found a bottle of vodka. at first i expected it was some crazy media stunt and then he sent a picture of him holding the bottle and i was thinking it was the real deal. the russo—baltique bottle is currently being examined by police but soon may return to the shelves. and it appears this little adventure will have no major impact on the price. as bar owner brian ingberg says, "we have the same vodka, "we'll just fill the bottle up again." na zdorovie! tim allman, bbc news. that's it. then people watching bbc news on pbs.

—— thank you. hello there. following what has been a pretty stormy start to 2018, the weekend holds something a little quieter for most of us, but colder, and it will feel cold as well as the wind, northeasterly wind, strengthens. and of course it's getting colder, so what we've seen through the day on friday is a smattering of snow on the hills. those weather fronts have continued southwards through the night so a further smattering of snow and clearly an ice risk across many northern areas. but even further south, as temperatures fall close to freezing as well for dawn this morning, and some showers around, that poses a risk of fog as well, some dense fog potentially, through southern areas but particularly across parts of wales, the midlands, east anglia, lincolnshire and the vale of york but not to be excluded further south either where we will keep a lot of showers through the day ahead and quite cloudy skies. as the wind starts to strengthen, it will be quite bitter. the wind is quite a feature further north, but the list with the sunshine here it will be

a sparkling start of the day. it will still be cold. wintry showers are still there across parts of north—east england, in scotland, but for western scotland, northern ireland, the lion's share of the sunshine through the day ahead but it does brighten and across much of northern england, north wales, perhaps the north midlands later and of course the fog will lift. the wind strengthens and so with the cloud covering the south and the showers, quite sharp at times, it will feel cold, for example if you are heading off to fleetwood against leicester in london for the fa cup third round, it is going to be quite a bracing wind, particularly by the end of play. for most of us here, 6—8 celsius, but feeling colder as the wind strengthens. the wind starts to ease in the sunshine further north but again 3—5 degrees, it is cold air. that cold air continues its progress southwards during tonight. still, though, we have the cloud generally, showers close to the south coast, touch and go for frost but most areas will have a much colder night. —10, —12 perhaps in the glens of scotland,

particularly with the snow cover, but colder further south and obviously the risk that of some slippery where we have had the showers. but it does look like a sunnier day on sunday but look at the north—easterly wind. it is biting. always the risk of a bit more cloud for the sout, —— south, but lovely sunshine further north, just cold, temperatures, struggling to get above freezing in a few areas because of the high pressure, light winds in the north, the strong north—easterly in the south and these weather fronts sitting out in the atlantic which will slowly start to come in next week but another day of largely dry weather, just picking up some cloud and freezing drizzle by monday. it looks more grey by that stage. bye— bye. this is bbc news. the headlines: the united states has been widely criticised by fellow un security council members for calling an emergency meeting on the anti—government protests in iran. china, russia and france have all questioned the move. iran's representative condemned what he called a preposterous example of bullying by the us.

the author of a damning new book about donald trump's presidency says he stands by everything he wrote. michael wolff says the president behaves "like a child" who neither reads nor listens. mr trump has dismissed the book as "phony". temperatures along the east coast of america are expected to fall as low as minus a0 degrees celsius in the coming hours as a brutal cold spell continues into the weekend. at least 19 people have died since a powerful blizzard hit much of the east coast on thursday. more than 20,000 fans of irn bru have signed a petition against a planned change to its famous recipe.