welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories... the golden globes are under way — the first big awards ceremony since the sexual harassment scandal that's shocked hollywood. a senior bbcjournalist stands down, accusing the broadcaster of a "secretive and illegal" pay culture. reports from syria say the army have ended a siege at a military base outside the capital, damascus. more than 30 people are missing after a collision in the east china sea — a huge oil tanker is still on fire. and, a night to forget. why the spanish military had to rescue thousands of motorists trapped by heavy snow. the golden globes ceremony in los angeles has always been seen

as the first of hollywood's glitzy awards shows leading up to the oscars. but this year, the issue of sexual misconduct and harassment has taken centre stage in perhaps what is the first test of how this most glamorous of industries is handling a series of high—profile sexual assault scandals. many actors are wearing black to highlight a campaign against abuse and harassment and some winners, including oprah winfrey, made powerful and emotional speeches about speaking out. peter bowes is in los angeles for us. so to yes, people are talking oprah winfrey was speaking, —— that speech

oprah winfrey getting a big reaction in the it was a very powerful speeches well, as you said, just paraphrasing, tool will have. she went on to say to all the girls watching, and you of a phenomenal men she had a lot more to say as well that summing it up, it really the mooted this evening. it was a seal the uprising and in some senses, that they in response to this, many of the women wearing black, as you said, on, and really making this what about the humourous

presentation style to it compared to the oscars? but the tone must be a bit different this year,. well yes, it isa bit different this year,. well yes, it is a very different tone but it has to be said that seth meyers is a comedian and there was to the way that he has presented certainly his introduction, and he referred two no one is acceptable, at least here in california, where it hasjust one is acceptable, at least here in california, where it has just and sexual he did mention harvey weinstein, it was harsh at his expense, it has to be said, and many of have referred to except in one of

the first laura big little lies, by the first laura big little lies, by the way, the television series that one in every category that and laura dern again moving this forward, saying that children in the future can speak out without the and the fa ct can speak out without the and the fact that they can do should on a lighter note, biggest winners of the night? well, we actually getting right to the end of the show, so i france's new tom and has won for best actress her film france's new tom and has won for best actress herfilm has france's new tom and has won for best actress her film has done very well tonight. winning winston

churchill in darkest power, he too gave a very powerful his he and words can change the course of the word, and he said that we really need —— a number of high—profile bbc journalists have expressed support for the corporation's china editor, carrie gracie, who has resigned from the post, complaining of pay inequality with male colleagues. in an open letter, addressed to licence fee payers, ms gracie accused the bbc of resisting pressure for a fair pay structure, and breaking british equality laws. our media editor amol rajan explains more. it is worth saying that carrie gracie, who appears frequently on this programme, is a hugely respected international editor, she has been at the bbc for over 30 years.

her allegation is that the bbc discriminates illegally against women by paying many of them less than men doing equivalentjobs. the key point of her letter is that she says that she does not want a pay rise, she wants to be paid the same as a man doing an equivalentjob of being an international editor. the bbc‘s response, they say they take this seriously and they have undertaken not one but three internal audits of pay, and that they go much further than other public organisations on the issue of equality. this is a moment of high danger for the corporation because last summer, it was forced against its will to publish the salaries of staff. some 200 women have complained internally and there is a huge issue in the corporation about pay. this is notjust now about internal staff management, this is about public perception of the corporation, and there is a real danger that if carrie gracie's letter leads to legal action, then the bbc and bbc news could be generating headlines for all the wrong reasons.

syria's state—run tv is reporting the army has broken a siege of a military base outside the capital, damascus. hundreds of soldiers were trapped inside after rebels surrounded the base in december, which borders the rebel—held territory of eastern ghouta. the rebel action has triggered heavy airstrikes and dozens of casualties, as andrew plant reports. smoke rising above abandoned buildings, a ruined town outside the capital, with syrian army tanks on the ground, and here, army soldiers smashing their way into a compound and freeing the soldiers inside. the army has broken a siege here, a military transport compound surrounded by rebels for weeks — the latest battle in syria's seven year war. the rebel area of eastern ghouta, home to around a00,000, is north—east of the capital, damascus. the military base under siege is in the town of harasta, just outside the capital. this was the syrian army's response to the rebel action, massive airstrikes in eastern ghouta. and this was thursday,

23 people reported to have died and dozens more injured. after the explosions, the rescue teams moved in, known as the white helmets. one of them was also killed. idlib, another rebel stronghold, hundreds of kilometres north, and the aftermath of explosions here too. a car bomb at the weekend which killed 18 people, thought to have been targeting a rebel ho. there are reports of hospitals destroyed in the strikes outside damascus. doctors in the area are few and far between, and medicine is scarce. as the planes move away, though, people still come out to scavenge useful supplies from between the lumps of concrete and broken buildings. reports suggest more than 100 may have died from rebel and syrian army forces during the latest skirmish, as the military compound in harasta was freed. more than 340,000 people have been

killed in syria since the conflict began almost seven years ago. let's take a look at some more stories making the news now... the us ambassador to the united nations, nikki haley, has told the abc network that president trump's recent tweets aimed against the north korean leader are useful to "keep kim on his toes". she said it was important to keep up the pressure on kim jong—un's regime. the german chancellor, angela merkel, says she's optimistic that her centre—right christian democrat party can reach a coalition deal with the centre—left social democrats. five days of talks have just begun, three months after mrs merkel failed to win a parliamentary majority. 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. there are fears of an environmental disaster in the east china sea, where a tanker carrying a million barrels of oil is still on fire. attempts to rescue 32 crew members are being hampered by a large oil slick and dense clouds of smoke. the tanker collided with a cargo ship early on saturday. 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 sanchi is more than 170 metres long. —— 270 metres, it was carrying just under a million barrels of oil. now, if the entire cargo ends up in the ocean, that will effectively be in the top ten oil spills worldwide, ever.

so it has a huge potential for environmental damage. the pa namanian—registered tanker set off from the iranian oil port of kharg island in 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 chinese 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 tons 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 can't confirm at this stage how big it is. andy moore, bbc news. the bbc‘s robin brant is in shanghai. he told me more about the rescue operation. we have a rescue operation under way with numerous vessels and aircraft being co—ordinated by the chinese ministry of transport.

there are also south korean planes involved and also an american plane. essentially, there are two sides to this operation. one is search and rescue. unfortunately, it's now 38 hours since the collision happened late on saturday night here. the news is increasingly grim for those 32 crew members of sanchi who remain missing. the vessel, sanchi — as andy moore referred to — remains afloat, but it remains burning 165 nautical miles off the coast of shanghai, from where i'm talking to you now. the other part of the operation is containment, trying to contain the oil spill. as you heard in that report, this has the potential, if all1 million barrels aboard sanchi were to spill into the ocean, to be one

of the biggest spills ever. the water depth is 50 to 60 metres. there is a concern that the shallowness means it doesn't have anywhere to go. it is a long way off the coast. at the moment, the chinese authorities, their main priority after trying to find these members of the crew, is to contain the spill. in spain, hundreds of soldiers had to be deployed to rescue drivers and passengers who were trapped when their cars were stranded due to heavy snowfall. thousands were forced to spend the night in their vehicles in a section of motorway between the capital, madrid, and the northwestern city of segovia. the bbc‘s tim allman reports. what a welcome sight this must have been. a snowplough clearing an escape route for an awful lot of people who'd experienced a truly awful night. members of the military‘s emergency unit helping to free more than 3,000 vehicles. a 70—kilometre stretch of motorway brought to a standstill. soldiers handing out blankets and bottles of water.

some motorists said they had been trapped for up to 15 hours. this was the scene earlier in the morning before help arrived. this woman describing how she'd been stuck since 6pm the night before. this was the worst chaos she'd ever experienced, she said, and she felt like she was hallucinating. you can see dozens of other cars. all told, it's believed as many as 4,000 people spent the night in the freezing cold. but eventually, help did arrive and the cars, buses, lorries were able to complete theirjourney. the company that runs this stretch of motorway is now being investigated to see if it properly prepared for such dramatic weather. for everyone else, this will be a night to forget. tim allman, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news.

still to come: australia experiences its hottest weather in nearly 80 years, with temperatures in sydney reaching up to 47 degrees celsius. 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. our top stories this hour: the golden globes award ceremony is under way in los angeles with most of the hollywood stars dressed in black in solidarity with victims of sexual harassment and assault. a senior bbcjournalist has stepped down from her role, accusing the broadcaster of having a secretive and illegal pay culture. sydney in australia is experiencing its hottest weather in nearly 80 years. temperatures reached a sweltering 47 celsius. there have been several major bushfires and athletes have struggled to complete their matches.

rylee carlson reports. it is summer in australia but temperatures are soaring to uncomfortable highs. sydney hasn't been this hot for 79 years, leaving people struggling to stay cool. fans taking in the ashes cricket tournament ditched their shirts and dug out umbrellas to watch the test match in temperatures of 47 degrees celsius. not quite a record but still hot enough to fry an egg on the pavement. parts of the southern hemisphere are experiencing heatwaves. the south african weather service is issuing alerts and warnings for heatwaves for much of the country this weekend. we are expecting large parts of australia to be more than a0 degrees celsius this weekend, with very high risk of fire in parts of southern australia. that risk is becoming a reality, with fire crews stretched to the limit trying to get

brushfires under control. one crew had to take shelter in their trucks as the fast—moving fire burned over the top of them. there was minimal damage to the appliance and there are no injuries to the crew, whilst they are shaken. and strong winds are not helping, fanning the flames across 8000 hectares of farming land so far. when i was trying to move out in the south direction, itjumped in front so i've had to turn back and come back to the house. terrified. surrounding me is smoke. it's just very, very thick with smoke and it has just gone a bit dark so obviously now the smoke is it so thick in the sky it's blocking out the sun. a number of properties were destroyed in the states of victoria and south australia and residents have been warned to prepare for more.

the winter of 2017 was one of the driest on record. joining us on the line is stevenjaeschke, who stayed back to fight the flames on his property at sherwood in south australia. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. could you tell us what has happened to your property? thanks, duncan. yeah, we've had significant damage caused by the fire in our area. there is a lot of properties that have been totally burnt out. we have been treated quite well off i guess it compare to others who have had it a lot tougher than we have, but it has been a tricky couple of days for us with fire. and just how big are these bushfires that you are dealing with? think the one that was on and around our property was around 13,000 hectares and i guess

while it is out now they are still monitoring the fire edge to continue to ensure that it doesn't flare at any time again. when you say fighting these fires, is there something that you and the local community have to deal with on your own, or do you get outside help? i know that some areas are quite remote where you are. yes, duncan, it is quite remote and not a lot of population of people, but we have a cfs, which is our country fire service, which is an organisation which is throughout the state and throughout the country. each state has their different organisations. we also have our fire plans, has their different organisations. we also have ourfire plans, which we in act and put into place at a very local level and, of course, with our properties and people involved with our business we also have a local action plan that we follow to ensure that everyone is safe. so the people is the most

important asset that we are trying to ensure there is no injuries or deaths, ultimately. and then of course the livestock. there is a lot of livestock involved in our farming systems, where we are, sheep and cattle, so it is obviously people, homes and buildings, assets and then beyond that is the animals that we need to turn to. ok, stephen, well, we wish you all the best in the coming days and thank you very much for speaking to us. india has the highest number of child brides in the world. almost half of girls there are married before they are 18, even though the practice is illegal. but some girls are determined not to let it stop them achieving their ambitions. 21—year—old neetu was married and a mother at 1a, and she has gone on to become a champion wrestler winning a medal in the national games. turning to sport, and australia have w011 turning to sport, and australia have won the final cricket test match against england, giving them a 4—0

the ashes series. england were made to follow one in the second innings and did not come close to reaching australia's score, winning by an innings and 123 runs. england captainjoe innings and 123 runs. england captain joe root had innings and 123 runs. england captainjoe root had hospital treatment suffering from dehydration and a stomach bug. before we go, take a look at this from glacial northern china and the city of harbin. this isn't a construction site, it's an international ice sculpture competition, which has attracted artists from 1a countries around the world. the sculptors are given solid blocks of ice from the nearby songhua river. they can use tools of their choice and have three days to complete their imaginative designs, that is frostbite permitting. judging is on monday. that is how it is looking. stay with us here on bbc news. plenty on the website. it is goodbye

for now. hello there. it's been a cold, wintry—feeling weekend and that wintry chill will continue at least into the first part of the new working week. this was how things were looking sunday afternoon in cumbria. you can see the snow lying on the hills there, blue skies. monday morning starts on that cold and frosty night. there will be some sunshine, similar to sunday, but it will be more confined to the northern half of the country. further south, what we've got monday morning is this cloud moving its way gradually further northwards. but temperatures to start the day, minus double digits across rural parts of scotland. very cold at 8am across scotland, northern ireland and northern england. watch out for the odd icy stretch perhaps, perhaps a few patches of mist around too. further south, a cloudier morning to come. anywhere south of birmingham we're likely to see a bit of a grey morning, some hill fog possible across the south—west and this cloud could bring a few spots of drizzle and perhaps a few snow grains too, that's small grains of frozen precipitation gradually

edging their way northwards but many places staying dry, feeling quite chilly where you are stuck under the cloud in the south. lots more sunshine and lighter winds too for northern england, northern ireland and scotland. so it's a north—south split to the day on monday with temperatures at around 2—5 degrees in the sunshine in the north. slightly milder further south, 4—7, but feeling colder with the breeze, the cloud and the drizzle as well. through the course of monday night then, we'll see that cloud thickening and moving northwards across all of the country, bringing with it a lot of low cloud, hill fog, mistand murk and also some drizzle. the risk of some ice as well as that drizzle falls onto very cold surfaces. so tuesday morning starts on a grey, cold and an icy note. through the day things will start to slowly improve as the winds pick up a bit from the west, so that cloud should just break up a little bit later on in the day. there will be a little bit of drizzle here and there ahead of this next band of wet weather moving into the west later on, and the winds are going to be picking up too. top temperatures by the time we get to tuesday, between around about 3—7

degrees for most places but we could just see double digits returning to the south—west later in the day. so this frontal system will eventually move in tuesday night into wednesday, bringing a spell of rain. it bumps into an area of high pressure so the front doesn't get across the country very quickly. in fact, it's going to linger for a time on wednesday. could bring some spells of rain across eastern parts of the country. from the west, a return to sunnier skies, with sunshine and a few showers. temperatures back up to around 5—10, so milder through the middle part of the week after that very icy start. so to summarise the week ahead for you, it is a cold start, a lot of frost first thing. some rain through the middle part of the week and then eventually things are going to turn less cold later in the week. bye for now. hello. this is bbc news. the headlines... the golden globes film and television award ceremony has taken place in los angeles, with most of the hollywood stars dressed in black in solidarity with victims of sexual harassment and assault. many celebrities attended with gender and racial equality activists to highlight the scale of the problem.

a senior bbcjournalist, carrie gracie, has resigned from her post as china editor, citing what she called an indefensible pay gap between men and women. in an open letter, ms gracie accused the corporation of breaking equality law and resisting pressure for a fair and transparent pay structure. syria's state—run tv is reporting the army has broken a siege of a military base outside the capital, damascus. hundreds of soldiers were trapped inside after rebels surrounded the base in december, which borders the rebel—held territory of eastern ghouta. now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk.