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. now on bbc news: as part of the life stories season, celebrating life at 117. welcome to my great—grandmother's 170th birthday, right now —— 117th birthday, right now

she is taking pitcures of people who have come to see her and celebrate this big day with her. there is more than 90 years difference between me and her. she's 117 and i am just 23. i am priscilla ng'ethe. i am returning to my ancestral home in kenya to celebrate a remarkable birthday of one of the oldest people in the world. my great—grandmother, elizabeth koinange. i am here to discover the secrets of her long life, as she throws a party and reunites five generations of my family. this is kiambu, where i was born.

it's about ten miles from nairobi, the capital of kenya. this fertile land has been home to the kikuyu tribe and to my family — the koinange‘s for at least six generations. today, there are hundreds of koinange‘s like me, spread around the world. i am returning from my home in london to visit a woman very close to my heart. who has never left kenya, but has cultivated a global family. we arejust heading up to my great—grandma's house the road is quite bumpy because it is like a makeshift road. this is a shrine where most of my family are buried, my great grandad, my grandad, this children and his five wives. my great—grandmother

is the fifth wife out of six. we are heading up to my great—grandmother's home, she lives right by the side of where my great grandad used to live and i am really excited to see her. here she is. hi! hello! how are you? i'm fine. it is good to see you. good to see you. she is fine. long time. long time, many years. this is my great—grandmother, elizabeth gathoni koinange. she is going to be 117.

this is my great aunt irene and she is here to help with the translations because i can understand everything my great—grandmother tells me but to speak kikuyu is really difficult. great grandma elizabeth has lived on this land for 90 years. she grew up tending cattle on her father's farm, then moved here as a young bride and raised seven children. she built this house with profits from the farm. my great—grandmother is proud of her government identity card. it doesn't show the exact month or day that she was born, but does have her year of birth as 1900. the kikuyu tribal tradition of age groups gives the same name to all children born in the same eyar.

my great—grandmother belongs to the kihiu mwiri age group, meaning we know she was born sometime between 1899 and 1900. do you remember when you got married? and how do you remember your wedding day? is it force? force. she was brought by force, she was married by force because she was too young. yeah. and at that time she didn't want to get married to an old person

because she was the fifth wife. great—grandmother elizabeth was the fifth of six wives of the senior chief koinange. he worked with the british during colonial rule and is well—known in kenya for playing a part in the country's independence. so was it difficult for you to be the fifth wife? leonard is elizabeth's sixth child and he is my great uncle. he lives next door to my great—grandmother and was a child during the 1950s, when his father, senior chief koinange, was detained during the mau mau uprising. the mau mau uprising was a revolt against european ownership of land. mau mau suspects were being checked prior to interrogation, all were members of the kikuyu, the tribe which has suffered most from the mau mau. a state of emergency was declared in kenya and although it eventually led to the end of british rule, it was a tough time for my great

grandparents and for my uncle leonard. in 1952, my father was taken into detention. kenya had been declared emergency and he was detained for the next seven years he was in detention. we used to be children of a chief, we became beggars. we were being helped by those people we would have called poor. during now the mau mau, it was not only affecting our family, it affected other families. one of my aunties, who had, i think there were nine children, my mother took them and already she had taken two other children who belonged to her sister who had died. my mothers sister. so, my mother was raising about 20 children.

so we had a lot of, it was not — you know? like, we are fighting for food. this shrine is resting place of my great—grandfather. he lies alongside his five wives and there is a space reserved for my great—grandmother elizabeth. as theirs was a polygamous marriage, visiting this shrine puts into perspective how large the chiefs family really was. my great—grandfather is resting here.

but his legacy is living on in hundreds of descendants. what do you think about polygamy today? would you advise me to go down that route? you wouldn't like me to, no? you were the last one to practise polygamy, does that mean that our family will now be smaller and smaller and how do you feel about that? so you wouldn't want me to just have one or two kids, you would want me to have five, six... regardless of how many children i may have in the future, there is no doubt that the family is growing. my great—grandmother gave birth to seven children and there are tens of grandchildren.

my father was one of them and i am his second child of three, making me one of many, many great grandchildren to elizabeth. who is in those pictures, that one there? and is that you? that picture there, the one,

i think it's you and those kids around you. i can see that photographs play a big part of my great—grandmother's life. to celebrate her birthday, she is throwing a party. and we are going to attempt something very special. a family photograph, a living family tree, with five generations of my family and my great—grandmother at the centre. but with so many people involved, it could take a while. the 1st of january is a big day for my great—grandmother, elizabeth koinange. she has invited family and friends to celebrate her 117th birthday.

we have travelled far and wide and for me, it is a chance for me to reunite with my kenyan family. so the family, your children, your children's children, we are all spread out across the world like me in london. do you like that we are all over the world? so have you always celebrated on the 1st of january, since you can remember? right now, everyone is preparing the food. there is going to be loads of meat, loads of vegetables. so now it's time to get changed

because all the guests are slowly arriving so i will wear something that is a bit more comfortable. by throwing this party, my great—grandmother is continuing the tradition started by her late husband, of gathering friends and family together on the first day of the year. so right now, the party is in full swing. most people have eaten. there are still some people getting served over here. we still have some late arrivals coming in, as you'd expect. we have my great uncle right now giving a speech and saying once everyone has eaten, the whole

family, everyone gets together and takes a group picture of the family tree. next, it's time for the guest of honour to take the microphone. time for cake, and one of elizabeth's granddaughters does the honours. # happy birthday. # to you! # happy birthday! great—grandmother puts longevity down to a diet of yams and milky tea but for today, she is happy to indulge. she's been given some cake and the first people to be given some cake was everyone named after my great granddad. so what aunt said was, all the koinanges, come

and give your grandmother, you great—grandmother, your great—great—grandmother some cake and i think she is happy, she has had a lot of cake. hopefully when i'm old and 100 years old, i will be fed cake by all. all the people who come after me. it's a beautiful thing and i'm quite jealous, to be honest. so we are just going to wait... i'm going to choke. this cake is good. so we are just going to wait for my great—grandmother to go to where they are all taking a family picture. once she is sat down, we will start will move into that area. 0rganising so many people is a tough task. everybody is keen to catch up. and while great—grandmother patiently waits, it is a chance to meet relatives i didn't know i had. do you know how we are related?

i belong to the grandmother. he is my cousin. so his son is your dad? hello. hi, hi, hi. thank you very much. lam youraunt. people are so excited to see each other that they are socialising and they are slowly, slowly, slowly moving towards this way. so hopefully we get the picture by the end of the day. first to join our living family tree, great—grandmother elizabeth. surrounded by her six surviving children, who have a combined age of more than 400. next to join, my aunts and uncles. so now another generation has been called, for whom she is their great—grandmother, so i nowjoin. my mother has been holding this

party for about 20 years. she enjoys it. she would like to do it every quarter of the year. she is happy to see her family coming together. she has created a great family unit. camera clicks applause many of us enjoyed tracing our family tree but for most families, gathering so many generations like this together is impossible. it's no surprise that people have travelled from far and wide because great—grandmother elizabeth's enthusiasm for life is infectious. i finally got my selfie. hers is a life well lived, a life focused on providing her descendants

advantages that she didn't get to enjoy. faith, love and food are the fundamentals of my great—grandmother's life. and although she rarely leaves her small house, the world comes to her, to her children, grandchildren and great—grandchildren like me. one of the things which i like about her, and i think this is god—given, is her memory because she doesn't get old. if you come here, you say hello to her and talk to her, next time you come, she will remember you very well. she can't forget. bye! improvements in medicine mean we can all expect a longer life but it's

how you live it that really matters. and for this, my great—grandmother elizabeth is my inspiration. 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 at least 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 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—easterlies 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. to keep up to date, there is more of course on our website. bye— bye. this is bbc news. 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. panic and confusion at toronto's pearson airport, as two planes collide on the ground, sparking a fire on one of the aircraft. 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. the east coast of america

in the grip of an arctic blast — at least 19 people have died and temperatures could fall