west facing coasts, and then across west facing coasts, and then grind toa across west facing coasts, and then grind to a halt across the north and east. be prepared for some rain at some point on wednesday, some of it taking its time to ease away from the east. behind it, eventually, we will see an improvement, some sunshine coming through into northern ireland and western fringes. it starts cold with fog at the start of the week, rain midweek, and less cold on average by the end of the working week. this is bbc news. our latest headlines... theresa may defends the government's record on the nhs, insisting it was better prepared for the pressures of winter than it had been before, despite hospitals having to postpone tens of thousands of non—urgent operations. the prime minister is to carry out a cabinet reshuffle tomorrow, with put some extra money in for

coping with the winter pressures and we've also announced that over the next couple of years there will be further money going into the national health service. we've got to get those elderly people off the trolleys in corridors, this freezing january. the prime minister is to carry out a cabinet reshuffle tomorrow, amid reports that several ministers could be sacked or moved. some of britain's largest retailers, including b&q, wickes, morrisons and the co—op, agree to stop selling acids and corrosive substances to customers under 18 years old. now on bbc news, it's time for witness. hello and welcome to a special edition of witness, with me, tanya beckett, here at the british library in london. we'll be looking back at five

of the most memorable stories from the witness team from the past 12 months. we'll meet an archaeologist who's worked on the terracotta army site for decades in china, a friend of anti—apartheid icon steve biko, and the mother of one of argentina's disappeared children. but first, after independence in 1947, india was split into two states — one majority muslim, the other majority hindu. the repercussions of that split are still being felt. mohammad amir mohammad khan, the raja of mahmudabad, tells witness how partition affected his family and his home. i am mohammad amir mohammad khan, known as sulaiman to family and friends, the raja of mahmudabad. i'm from a muslim family which once ruled a very large feudal estate, including a beautiful palace,

called qila mahmudabad, in which we still live. but the indian government is laying claim to my property, saying that it is enemy property. no—one is paying for it, so these days, everything is crumbling. this dispute goes back to 1947, the partition of india into two states — a muslim—majority state called pakistan and a hindu—majority state of india. it was estimated that a million people died.

ten million people were displaced. some muslims went to the state of pakistan. many hindus came to india. it was not just the country that was divided — families were divided, too. in the late ‘50s, my father took pakistani nationality, and that is when my family's problems began, because when india and pakistan went to war in 1965, the government laid claim to our properties. there was an act of parliament called the enemy property act which empowered the government to take over, temporarily, the properties of pakistanis. it was notjust our family which was affected. thousands of families were affected.

the properties are worth billions of dollars. but our issue is that only my father took pakistani nationality. i have always been an indian. my mother was always an indian. we had to fight our case from the lowest to the highest court. and in every court, we won. and the supreme courtjudge said that by no stretch of imagination could i be considered an enemy, and considered me the heir to my father's properties. but then, the government went and changed the laws, and the battle has begun again. i suppose, like so many people in india and pakistan,

we're still caught up in the repercussions of partition and the acrimonious relations between india and pakistan. in a way, i've been forced to live in the past. and, with apologies to yeats, ifeel as if i'm drowning in a beauty that has long since faded from this earth. mohammad amir mohammad khan at his beautiful palace in india. now to one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century. in the spring of 1974, local farmers in china accidentally uncovered the site of

the vast terracotta army. our next witness, li xiuzhen, is an archaeologist who has dedicated her career to the remarkable life—sized figures. news archive: it is a vast pottery army which is slowly being unearthed from the tomb where it has lain for more than 2,000 years... these are all life—sized, like real soldiers... li xiuzhen, who still works at the site of the terracotta army

in xian. in 1977, anti—apartheid activist steve biko, leader of the black consciousness movement in south africa, died in police custody. he had been arrested weeks earlier. witness has spoken to biko's friend, peterjones, who was arrested with him. i miss my friend steve biko and i am forever in his debt. steve biko is one of the people that originated the new generation of young, political—minded black people, the black consciousness movement. we believe that in our country there shall be no minority, there shall be no majority, there willjust be people. there shalljust be people. and those people will have the same status before the law and they will have the same rights before the law. the apartheid government ensured

that there was no resistance against its doctrines and against its policies. there was a roadblock, and they then searched the car. they found an identity document, which was mine. they then said, "who is peter jones? " and i said, "that's me." he said, "oh, and who are you, big man?" that's now steve. and steve said, "i'm steve bantu biko." and we were then locked up together in one cell. the next morning, we started getting an uneasy feeling because there were now more police and in a convoy of three cars, we sped towards port elizabeth. in port elizabeth was the headquarters of the security police for that region. news archive: the building has been converted into a block of flats. steve biko was being walked to his death along this very

corridor — a man poised to fill the void left behind after mandela was jailed. we got taken up to the fifth floor and we were manacled, each to a separate window. one of the senior police, a major, came in and said, "now i can confirm that you are officially being detained under section six of the terrorism act." that is the act in which you literally disappear. they separated us, i only had a chance to shout steve's name, and that was the last time i saw steve alive. three weeks and three days later, ijust heard a lot of commotion, many, many people singing protest songs, the cell next to mine was being filled with many people. then this young man told me that they have just returned

from the funeral of steve biko and that was the first time that i heard about the death of steve bi ko. i went to my mat that was my bed, and i then just sat there... er, with... to me, it was like a huge hole in my soul, just inconsolability which even today would make me weep at unexpected moments. the police said the leader of the black consciousness movement had lost his life by accident when his head struck a wall while he was being restrained. steve biko's family believe he was thrown at the wall quite

deliberately by the police officers. steve biko's death and the brutality of it highlighted like no other event at the time the extent to which the apartheid regime would go to protect itself. peterjones remembering his friend, steve biko. remember, you can watch witness every month on the bbc news channel, or you can catch up on all of ourfilms, along with more than 1,000 radio programmes, in our online archive. just to go bbc.co.uk/witness. in the late 19705, thousands of young men and women were detained in argentina for their opposition to military rule. among those who went missing was ana maria baravalle. her mother mirta spoke to witness. news archive: they're called the mothers of the plaza de mayo,

the square in the centre of buenos aires where they hold the same sad demonstration every week. they've all had at least one relative who's disappeared. mirta in the offices of the mothers of the disappeared. in 1953, american husband and wife julius and ethel rosenberg were executed by electric chair, after being convicted of spying for the soviet union. our final witness is the rosenbergs' son, robert. news archive: one of the greatest peacetime spy dramas in nation's peacetime spy dramas in the nation's history reaches its climax, asjulius rosenberg and mrs ethel rosenberg, convicted of transmitting secrets to russia, enter the federal building in new york to hear their doom. the last time i saw my parents was in sing sing prison, just a couple of days before they were executed in june 1953.

i have this very strong, visceral sense of a warm and loving family. my father played word games with my brother. i sat on my mother's lap. they were pretending like nothing was wrong, that we'd see them, you know, like we'd see them in another few weeks. my brother, he knew that that was wrong, and he wanted them to acknowledge the terrible situation that we were all in. and so, he started wailing, "one more day to live." both my parents were children of the depression. they grew up in poverty on the lower east side of manhattan. my father, julius, was an electrical engineer. he was a member of the american communist party. my mother, ethel, was a housewife. my father was arrested in july

of 1950 in new york city. and my mother was arrested. both were charged with conspiracy to commit espionage. the government said julius rosenberg was a master spy who led an atomic spy ring that stole the secret of the atomic bomb and gave it to the soviet union in 1945. julius was guilty of espionage, but it didn't have anything to do with the secret of the atomic bomb — he had no knowledge of this. it's hard for me to believe that my mother didn't know about what he was doing, but there's no credible evidence that my mother participated in any way. this was the great red scare, the mccarthy period. the government was saying that there was this international communist conspiracy that was out to destroy our way of life. fear makes powerful people do very dangerous things.

the trial at which they, you know, were convicted was a travesty. we now know that the judge secretly communicated with the prosecution that evidence was fabricated, that chief prosecution witnesses perjured themselves. the government of the united states used the death penalty not as punishment but as extortion. the purpose, as one of the fbi agents put it, "we didn't want them to die, we wanted them to talk." there was a worldwide movement and a mass movement even within the united states at the height of the mccarthy period to save my parents' lives. they were executed on june 19th, a month after my sixth birthday. my brother just kind of hung his head. and i came in and i knew something was wrong, but i didn't want to hear about it.

even a month after the execution, i'd say, "when are we going to go see mummy and daddy?" and he'd have to remind me that they were dead. my parents should not have been executed, and we took on a campaign to exonerate ethel. have we given up? no, we haven't given up. my brother and i, we are marathoners. we're going to keep going. robert meeropol remembering his parents. that's all from this special edition of witness here at the british library. we'll be back soon to bring you more extraordinary moments of history and the remarkable people who witnessed them. but for now, from me and the rest of the witness team, goodbye. hello. it has been a cold and frosty

start to our day—to—day, but at least we've seen some beautiful weather watchers' pictures. there is some clouds just to the south of the m4 corridor and also some shower cloud up in the northern isles, but oui’ cloud up in the northern isles, but our weather watchers' pictures have been beautiful. this is north yorkshire. down towards hampshire, u nfortu nately you have yorkshire. down towards hampshire, unfortunately you have got that little bit of cloud that i was talking about. but from time to time you are getting a few glimpses of sunshine. but it is feeling cold. for the rest of the day, we close out on a dry note. heaping those clear skies in northern areas.

temperatures will be falling away like a stone. to the south we keep the cloud and that will prevent them pictures from falling too low. in the glands of scotland they could be down as low as —10. a hard frost is likely in northern areas tomorrow morning. in the midlands, central wales and further south of that, some drizzle from time to time. and it will be a leakjanuary afternoon for many. but i suspect, though, as we go through the night the issue could be for, some of it fairly dense in places and slow to clear away, with light winds. —— could be fog. despite temperatures hold in up above freezing it is not going to be above freezing it is not going to be a very nice start to tuesday morning. 0n a very nice start to tuesday morning. on tuesday we will start to see the winds coming from the south. soa see the winds coming from the south. so a bit ofa see the winds coming from the south. so a bit of a west is to divide on tuesday. it will stakeholder in

scotla nd tuesday. it will stakeholder in scotland and down the north sea coast. a little bit milder out to the west. but unfortunately that brings rain as well. so it will be a wet end to the day across cornwall and perhaps into wales and eventually into northern ireland as well. this weather front will bring a spell of heavy rain across west facing coasts for a time. it moves north and east and grinds to a halt across the north—east and there will be some sleet and snow on higher ground. but generally speaking on wednesday, it is messy story. so, oui’ wednesday, it is messy story. so, our week ahead will start off cold and frosty. in the middle of the week there is something just a little bit less cold, indications show. is this is bbc news. i'm reeta chakrabarti. the headlines at three.

theresa may defends the government's record on the nhs, insisting it is properly funded for coping with the winter pressures. we put some extra money in for the coping with the winter pressures. we've also, of course, in the budget in november, announced that for the next couple of years there will be extra money, further money, going into the national health service. they haven't got a plan to get those people off the trolleys in corridors. there's elderly people this freezing january, being treated in ambulances. the prime minister will carry out a cabinet reshuffle tomorrow — there are reports that several mnisters could either lose theirjobs or be moved. also in the next hour, plans to plant 50 million trees to create a northern forest between liverpool and hull.