injustice which this is bbc world news today. —— this is bbc world news today. our top stories... an explosion in syria's northwestern city of idlib, said to have targeted the government opposition, has killed at least 18 people. the bbc‘s china editor carrie gracie is stepping down from the role, citing unequal pay with her male colleagues. and hollywood gets red carpet—ready for the golden globes — the first major award ceremony since the sexual harassment scandals. we hear from one of its top stars. i couldn't bear the thought of being ina i couldn't bear the thought of being in a movie that glorified somebody who had heard people in these ways. —— somebody who had hurt people. hello and welcome to world news today.

more than 30 people are missing after a collision between an oil tanker and a cargo ship off the east coast of china. it's the worst disaster of its kind for many years. the tanker remains on fire and 136,000 barrels of oil worth around $60 million — are either burning or spilling into the sea. andy moore reports: still burning fiercely many hours after the original collision, and still no confirmed news about the fate of its 32 crew. 30 were iranian and two were from bangladesh. the tanker is more than 270 metres long and was carrying just under i million barrels of oil. if the entire cargo ends up the ocean, that will be ten oil spills in the world ever. it has a huge potential for environmental damage. the pa namanian—registered tanker set

off from the persian gulf on its journey to south korea. it sailed through the malacca strait before colliding with a chinese freight ship in the east china sea about 160 nautical miles off the port city of shanghai. major oil spills from tankers are becoming less common. one of the most serious in recent years was the sinking of the prestige off the coast of spain in 2002. more than 60,000 tonnes of oil came ashore over a long stretch of coastline. specialist clean—up vessels have been sent to the scene of the tanker fire. chinese authorities have confirmed there is an oil slick, but they cannot confirm how big it is. andy moore, bbc news. an explosion in syria's northwestern city of idlib has killed at least 18 people, according to a monitoring group. another 10 people were injured in the attack, the syrian 0bservatory for human rights said. the explosion was said to have targeted the headquarters of an opposition faction. idlib province is the last remaining

rebel stronghold in syria. i can speak now on the latest situation in syria with joshua landis. he is the director of the centre for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma and author of the blog syria comment. hejoins me now he joins me now from hejoins me now from italy. what do you make of what is going on in the idlib area? well, idlib is in the north along the turkish border. the russians and americans negotiated three big areas of deconfliction zones, as they called it, where they would agree to stop fighting while the battle with isis was being waged. but the territorial battle against crisis has come to an end now, says syria has begun moving its units back towards the three major areas, one of which is idlib and is still held by rebels. in syria, the assad government has every intention

to ta ke assad government has every intention to take back these regions. so we are going to see a lot of fighting, ifear, in the next are going to see a lot of fighting, i fear, in the next weeks. thank you for stopping those phones for us! that is one of the areas. eastern ghouta is another. 0bviously, that is one of the areas. eastern ghouta is another. obviously, this does go against the general narrative we have seen in syria. yes, it does. the syrian government, assad has repeated over and over again that he intends to take back all of syria. the united states is of course occupying almost 30% in the north. it has helped to encourage setup the north. it has helped to encourage set up a government there. but there are still big rebel enclaves. that is where we will see a lot of fighting. they had been under deconfliction zones, but those are collapsing, so we are going to see more fighting in those regions. and in idlib, there are about 2 million people, many of the rebels

have fled to this area. turkey does not want them to be driven inside turkey. it has moved troops into the region. syria, of course, wants to get rid of those people. there is a big number of al-qaeda people there as well. so this is going to become an increasingly fraught battle ground. we have seen a lot of focus on the vulnerable, the children especially. as we said, there are over 2 million refugees, desperately poon over 2 million refugees, desperately poor, and this is turning into a major battle ground, with bombing from the regime. the regime is exhausted. it is using air power rather than men on the ground, which is very expensive for them, to roll them back. that means lots of casualties and grisly scenes. joshua landis, thanks for your time. former egyptian prime minister ahmed shafik has said he will not run in this year's presidential election. the statement was published on his twitter page.

mr shafik had previously announced his intention to run and he was seen as the main rival to president sisi. the bbc‘s hanan razek has more from cairo. so today, shafik announced through his twitter page that he is no longer running for the upcoming election which is expected around april or may this year. in his statement, he said that he realised he is not the ideal candidate to lead the country's affairs in the coming period. for this reason, he decided not to run. shafik was himself a presidential candidate back in 2012 and he lost by a narrow margin to the muslim brotherhood candidate back then, mohammed morsi. he got almost 49% of the vote. after that, he left for the emirates and did not come back until last month. back in november, he announced that he would run for the presidency. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. police in sweden say a 60—year—old man has died in an explosion outside

an underground station in stockholm. the incident happened at varby gard metro station in the south of the city. a woman nearby was also hurt. according to a police spokesman, an object exploded after it was picked up. the incident is not believed to be terrorism—related. president macron of france has led tributes to the 16 people who were killed in islamist attacks in paris three years ago. commemorations began at the offices in paris of the satirical magazine, charlie hebdo, to remember the 12 people who died when two gunmen burst into an editorial meeting. malaysia's long—serving former prime minister, mahathir mohamad, has been chosen once again as a candidate for the top job at the age of 92. mr mahathir resigned as prime minister in 2003, but has been drawn back into politics because of his opposition to the current prime minister, najib razak. the bbc‘s china editor carrie gracie has resigned from her post, citing a lack of equal pay compared with male colleagues. in an open letter, ms gracie — who has been at the bbc for more than 30 years —

accused the corporation of having a "secretive and illegal pay culture". she said the bbc was facing a "crisis" over the question of equal pay. with me is our media editor, amol rajan. just to explain, carrie gracie is not leaving the bbc, she hasjust resigned from her post. she has indeed. she is one of the most respected international correspondence of her generation with over three decades at the bbc and as the china editor, one of the ha rd est and as the china editor, one of the hardest posting in the world, a difficult post—war britain. she is leaving her post as china editor rather than leaving the bbc. she is doing it because, in an explosive letter which is actually to licence fee payers, she says the bbc is failing to live up to its own values of trust and accountability and transparency when it comes to equal pgy- transparency when it comes to equal pay. the context for this is that last year, the bbc was forced against its will to reveal the pay of on—air talent who were paid over

£150,000. that revealed notjust that many men were paid a lot more than senior women at the bbc, but as carrie gracie sees it and many others have also argued, that there are some men getting paid more than women for doing the same sort of job. her point is that there are other international creditors at the bbc who happen to be male who are getting paid more money —— international creditors. the bbc has offered carrie gracie more money. it has launched audits looking at the question of equal pay, but her central allegation is that the bbc doesn't take this issue seriously because if it did, she will be paid the same as others with the same role. she is also calling for transparency and talks about ethnic minority gaps and other gaps potentially. you are a senior editor. would you be happy to have your pay published? personally, i feel that the bbc should be as transparent as possible because it belongs to the public, so i would be happy for my pay to be in the public

domain? want to share it with us? as media editor, i get paid £133,000, soi media editor, i get paid £133,000, so i did not qualify for the £150,000 so i did not qualify for the £150 , 000 list. i so i did not qualify for the £150,000 list. i do other work which also takes me over £150,000. the bbc should be transparent. but in trying to report the subject, the thing i have come across is the immense anger that people at the bbc feel, especially senior women, about the fa ct especially senior women, about the fact that the bbc does not take this seriously. there are now 200 complainants, according to carrie gracie's letter, 200 people who have complained to the bbc because they feel that their pay is unjust. this is not about gender pay as a whole, it is the specific issue of whether women are paid less than men for doing the same job. women are paid less than men for doing the samejob. and women are paid less than men for doing the same job. and that one, carrie gracie says the bbc is failing. you have spoken to senior people at the bbc. they say they

don't want to comment on individual cases. they have obviously had a difficult negotiation with carrie gracie. but they would say the bbc is doing a lot on this. firstly, the bbc goes further than other organisations. they would say that tony hall is committed to this and that a lot has happened in the last few years under his leadership. and they do point to these different reports. i will not get technical, but there is an internal audit of pgy- but there is an internal audit of pay. pwc have been brought in to look at pay across the organisation. there is also a report looking at on—air talent which is due to report in the next few weeks or months. the bbc is certainly doing a lot on this. that clearly is not enough for carrie gracie. and crucially, it is not enough for around 200 other people who have made formal complaint and some of whom may take legal action. that is where this gets nasty. it is on the front page of the times tomorrow, and the bbc‘s reputation could be tarnished. amol rajan, thanks for being so open with us. pleasure!

hollywood season is about to get under way with the 75th golden globes. it is the first major ceremony since hollywood was hit by sexual harassment scandals. michelle williams stars in one nominated film, all the money in the world, which was reshot following allegations about kevin spacey, who had a major role in the movie. the bbc‘s james cook has been speaking to her about the experience. it was the movie that never stopped shooting. you know, we went through a lot with the film and we realised that this thing that we loved and loved working on together was going to be for naught, and there were some sadness around that, more sadness around the allegations and the pain that has been caused. and then this phone call came, this

late—breaking idea of how to save the film, rewrite the story, do the right thing, and i was exuberantly and immediately on board for it.|j think for a lot of audiences, they have been disappointed, upset to watch some of their idols fall in terms of kevin spacey and others. as someone who works with him, how disappointed were you ? someone who works with him, how disappointed were you? that was one of the things i found most upsetting about being in a film that he was also in, is that films, because they are larger than life, they glorify people. i couldn't bear the thought of being in a movie that glorified somebody who had hurt people. in these ways. i didn't want anything to do with it. i wouldn't have gone to do with it. i wouldn't have gone to promote it. i wouldn't have talked about it, because i would have felt like it is not the right thing to do for those people that

have been hurt. they don't need to be re—traumatised by seeing this movie come out and seeing big posters and flashy advertisements. it's not appropriate, so i didn't wa nt it's not appropriate, so i didn't want any part of it. is what is happening in hollywood a permanent, significant change, do you think? there's no way of knowing. i can't tell the future, i can only tell you what i hope and what i know to be true, which is that i don't know a single person who hasn't taken this on as though it's anotherjob. everyone is working day and night to create the kind of change that will be permanent. 0ur create the kind of change that will be permanent. our hope is to hand our daughter is a different world. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come... big names struggle against lower league opposition in the third round of the fa cup. this is bbc world news today.

the latest headlines: a tanker is on fire in the east tennessee and spilling oil, the worst disaster of its kind to 32 yea rs. worst disaster of its kind to 32 years. an explosion in syria's north—western city of idlib has killed at least 18 people. the german chancellor angela merkel has begun what may be her last chance to build a stable government coalition and end months of political stalemate following september's election. as she went into the first days of talks in berlin, she said she was optimistic — but admitted there is still a lot of work ahead. this is the country's longest—ever period of coalition—building. for more on the talks, i am joined from dresden by ulrich brueckner, a political analyst and professor in european studies at stanford university. how critical are these talks? germany is of course key to a stable europe. people of course tend to use

big words like crisis in a situation that has never happened in germany before. but if we look at the situation in the country is in, no one is really very worried. people are surprised that we are in such a situation, but there are no signs of getting nervous or anxious. it is more like a form of irritation that it takes so long and it is hard to predict what the next steps will be. how much is the refugee and migrant questions still a key political issue? well, it was an important one for the elections and the result we had, like afp for the first time being represented in parliament, speaks for itself. but the number went down drastically, not because of the situation in germany, but

because of the responses from the countries on the migration route. it is therefore still be relevant in the room and there are a lot of discussions about this, but it is certainly not just a discussions about this, but it is certainly notjust a question for germany. it can only be solved on a european level and therefore, we first have to get our act together and then convince the other european union member states to find and integrate an immigration solution for all of us. about how much is the question of policy on refugees and taxation part of what will have to be negotiated now? as i said, we are not in the situation of crisis, neither on a political level, because the constitution forces that we will have a government no matter what. when we look at the migration numbers, it is not so much a question of how many people currently come to germany, but the much longer lasting and more pressing question of how we can manage to integrate them successfully. this is not something

that will be decided in the next elections or in the coming year, but it is more a question of a generation or two. professor ulrich brueckner, thanks so much. pressure also on the british prime minister, theresa may — who's confirmed there'll be a cabinet reshuffle on monday. the labour opposition has called the planned reshuffle "little more than a desperate pr exercise." here's our political correspondent, eleanor garnier. a new year, perhaps a fresh start after a torrid 2017 in which theresa may lost her majority in the general election, faced a rebellion from some of her own mps, was forced to deal with cabinet resignations and even had to sack her second—in—command. it means she starts the year with a reshuffle. well, no prizes for guessing, andrew, that obviously, damian green's departure before christmas means some changes do have to be made. speaking exclusively to the bbc, the prime minister has made clear that she wants her government to be about more than just brexit,

insisting she is in listening mode. one of the clear messages we got was that there are a number of areas in which people were concerned about what we were proposing. so just as we have looked at issues on school funding, tuition fees, on housing and we're taking forward approaches in relation to that, on this issue of foxhunting, what i can say is that there won't be a vote during this parliament. and on the environment, plans for 50 million more trees, a push to win over new voters and those who've drifted away. but the new year has already brought in old problems, under pressure on rising train fares, and claims that this winter crisis is the toughest yet for the nhs. the nhs has actually been better prepared for this winter pressure than it has been before. you mentioned operations being postponed. that was part of the plan. of course, we want to ensure that those operations can be reinstated

as soon as possible, but it's about making sure that those who most urgently need care are able to get that treatment when they need it. labour's blamed government cuts for the problems in the nhs and warned the prime minister against promoting the health secretary in this week's reshuffle. she hasn't got a plan to get those people off the trolleys in corridors, those elderly people this freezing january, being treated in ambulances. she's got no plan for them. her only plan, apparently, is to promote this health secretary. she should be demoting this health secretary. if she promotes this health secretary tomorrow, it is a betrayal of those 75,000 people in the back of ambulances. the prime minister said today she's not a quitter, and she'll want and need the best possible team around her to get her through what many predict will be a tough year ahead. eleanor garnier, bbc news, westminster. let's check on the the sport.

holders arsenal have been knocked out of the english fa cup by second tier nottingham forest in a 11—2 upset at the city ground. it's the first time since arsene wenger took over the managerial reins at the gunners in 1996 that they've been knocked out at this stage. the frenchman was forced to watch the tie from the stands as he served the first of a three—match touchline ban handed down by the football association and he saw his side give away two penalties. it was very frustrating and u nfortu nately, it was very frustrating and unfortunately, it was a case on top of that to see the team lose because we played against a very good nottingham forest team who were sharp and focused. they were decisive and overall, our performance was not good enough today to win the game. no such problems for arsenal's north london rivals tottenham as harry kane scored twice in a 3—0 win over wimbledon. jan vertonghen claimed the last

goal, with all of them coming in the second half at wembley against their third tier opponents. so confirmation of those results, while premier league west ham have been forced into a replay after they were held to a goalless draw at shrewsbury town, who are two divisions below them. goalkepperjoe hart described the hammers performance as terrible while leeds united were knocked out by a side two divisions below them, going down 2—1 at newport county. barcelona have been showing off their new signing phillipe coutinho ahead of him officially putting pen to paper on monday. the 25—year—old brazilian is moving from liverpool for a fee thought to be in excess of $190 million. since arriving at anfield five years ago, he's scored 5a goals in over 200 appearances, hitting double figures in each of the last three seasons. coutinho was the club's joint top scorer in the premier league last term with 13 goals. coutinho being shown off comes after the catalans‘ 3—0 victory

at home to levante, which means they're nine points clear of second placed atletico. real madrid are currently at 2—2. real started the match 17 points adrift of barca. let's move on to cricket now, where the fifth and final day is due to get under way inside the next two hours in sydney with host australia heading for a 4—0 ashes victory. england will resume on 93 for 4 in their second innings, still 210 days behind — after australia had declared on 649 for 7. the marsh brothers, shaun and mitchell, both hit centuries on what was an extremely hot day at the scg, becoming the third set of brothers to do so for australia in the same innings. that is your sport for now.

a french singer who rose to pop by and —— to pop fame in the 19605 has died. she was born in october 19117 into a musical family. died. she was born in october 19117 into a musicalfamily. herfather was a singer and songwriter. she won the eurovision song contest in 1965 representing luxembourg and enjoyed international success with her song, a tribute to jazz legend ella fitzgerald. the french singer had been suffering from cancer for two yea rs. been suffering from cancer for two years. he was taken to hospital last month with a severe infection. she was 70 years old. that's it from us. this is bbc news. thanks for watching. it's been a cold winter's bay, but

many of us saw sunshine on sunday. but with those clear skies, a cold night ahead. you can see the snow sitting over the hills in that picture after what has been a wintry weekend. as we head through monday, it will be a cold and frosty start to the day. there will be sunshine across the northern half of the country. through tonight, you see the blue colours on the map, showing us us a sharp frost around. during the early hours of monday morning, in the towns and cities, it's below freezing in the north, but we could see minus double digits across parts of scotland and northern england. less cold around the far south as there is more cloud pushing in here which edges further northwards through the midlands into central wales by lunchtime. northern england, scotland and northern ireland holding onto sparkling winter sunshine through the day. temperatures of 2—6 degrees for most of us after a cold and frosty start to the day. monday night, and we continue to see cloud in the south moving further northwards. with light winds, we could see some

fairly dense fog patches forming in the early hours of tuesday. temperatures perhaps not quite as cold because we have that fog keeping temperatures from falling too low but watch out for potential disruption on tuesday morning, down to those dense fog patches. on tuesday, this weather system tries to move in from the west but before it gets there, a lot of dry weather. you can see the mist and fog on tuesday morning. it will lift and clear, but it will be a grey day. some drizzle, a cloudier day across scotland and northern england, compared to recent days. 3—7 degrees, the top temperature. rain arrives in the west later in the afternoon, and that weatherfront will continue to edge further eastwards across the country from tuesday night into wednesday. a change in weather type through the middle of the week. through the day on wednesday, that rain will move east to west across many parts of the country, introducing milder air, temperatures back into double digits in the south,

fairly cool, 4—6 degrees across scotland and northern ireland and there will be some wet weather arriving in most parts. through the week ahead, after that cold start, the rain arrives midweek and things start to feel less cold than they have been. bye for now. this is bbc world news, the headlines. is an oil tanker is on fire in the east china sea in what's the worst disaster of its kind for many years. 32 crew members are missing, and around 140,000 barrels of oil is burning or has spilled into the sea. the bbc‘s china editor carrie gracie is stepping down , citing unequal pay compared with her male colleagues. ms gracie accused the bbc of having a "secretive and illegal pay culture". an explosion in syria's northwestern city of idlib, said to have targeted the government opposition, has killed at least 18 people, the syrian 0bservatory

for human rights said ten people were injured in the attack. sydney in australia has experienced its hottest weather in nearly 80 years, with temperatures reaching 47 point three degrees celsius. in south australia, a fast moving bush fire has been burning out of control.