welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: president trump's planned visit to the uk to open the new us embassy has been called off. still the desperate search for survivors in california, as people try to come to terms with the scale of the massive mudslides, and the damage inflicted. more violent protests in pakistan over the rape and murder of a six—year—old girl and the 12 similar murders over the past two years. the new york times was barred from publishing any more classified documents dealing with the vietnam war. and steven spielberg speaks to us about his new film, the current climate in hollywood, and donald trump. first the breaking news that has

just emerged and been confirmed. president trump has cancelled his planned visit to london in february. the bbc‘s north america editor says british sources have expressed disappointment. president trump would have been in london for the opening of the new us embassy. but it's understood that he felt the building at nine elms in london was a legacy of obama and he didn't want to have anything to do with it. the building is over budget and over time. british sources say other options are being looked at later in the year. it looks likely there may have been large—scale it looks likely there may have been la rge—scale protests. our north america editor understands that plans had been made for him to see the queen for lunch at buckingham palace on the first day of his visit. none of that of course will now happen. rescuers are using helicopters, search dogs and thermal imaging equipment to try to find eight people missing in california since the devastating mudslides on tuesday. 17 people are known to have died

when a torrent of mud carrying boulders the size of cars smashed through the town of montecito. at least 500 homes have been damaged or destroyed. james cook reports. turn around! the flash—flood's right there, the flash—flood's right there! get out of here, go! this was the moment it began. oh, my god, mom! and then panic. close the door! it was a million miles an hour, in slow motion, if that makes sense. i clicked into survival gear, survival mode. wake dad up! every second, it's just roaring and banging against the house, and the most vicious, violent sounds you've ever heard. montecito is onlyjust beginning to grasp the scale of the disaster which will bear its name. for this idyllic little town ofjust 9,000 people, recovery will be long and hard. people walk their dogs through here,

there's trails, my kids have grown up riding their bikes. noelle strogoff fled with her three children just before the storm, but many of her neighbours did not. two young boys were swept out of their home, along with their mother, in the middle of the night. and their dog is gone, and they're lucky to be fine. it's just like a war zone here. there's homes that are just missing. and i walk down the street and i see balls, and toys, and bicycles, and shoes and socks, and knives and hammers. and it's like people's lives are just washed to the ocean. much of that debris ended up clogging the main coastal motorway. we were told that the people in this car escaped. above the town, the scorched hills are scarred by rivers of mud. well, the mudslide came roaring down here, sweeping everything before it. and, if you want to know how houses

can be swept from their foundations so easily, well, this is the answer. just look at the size of the boulders that were pushed down from the mountains. to drive through this little town is to be stunned by the power of this mudslide. southern california was once famed for its agreeable climate. these days, it reels from drought, fire and flood. james cook, bbc news, montecito. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. reports from france say all the jewellery stolen in a raid on the ritz in paris, worth $3.5 million, has been recovered. a gang of five used axes to smash the windows of the luxury hotel to gain access to display cases. three were arrested fleeing the scene. a final television debate has been held in the czech republic between candidates for

the presidency, ahead of friday's first round vote. but the incumbent president, milos zeman, refused to take part, leaving a sedate debate with few surprises. at a white house meeting, president trump has reportedly shocked some members of congress by using crude and insulting language to attack legal protections for immigrants from the african continent, also from haiti and el savador. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes has the latest from los angeles. this was a meeting, as you say, in the white house, in the oval office, to discuss immigration reform. and it was during that discussion that the president is reported as saying this: "why are we having all of these people from these "countries come here? " now, he didn't say "these countries", he used a crude expression to describe the countries that he is talking about — haiti, el salvador, and african countries as well. and, if you want to read in detail as to what the president said,

there is a full story on the bbc news website. but i can tell you a few other phrases that the president came outwith. "what do we want haitians here for?" "why do we want all these people from africa here?" and, as you said, he said, "we should have people "from places like norway." now of course the president did meet the prime minister of norway in the white house earlier this week. you'll find the offending word, of course, on just about every other news outlet, as well. as you say, he went on to say, why can't we admit more people from countries like norway? for people who thought their president was a racist, it'sjust going to be more ammunition, isn't it? yes, and that has been the tenor of the huge amount of criticism that there has been in the last few hours, since this was first reported — that these comments are extremely racist. and i'lljust read you a few of the comments from people who have been talking about it. the republican congresswoman mia love is haitian, and she called on the president

to apologise, saying the president's comments are divisive, elitist, and fly in the face of our nation's values. she says this behaviour is unacceptable from the leader of our nation. a democrat from maryland, elijah cummings, tweeted, "i condemn this unforgivable statement, and this demeaning "of the office of the presidency." president trump is likely to impose new sanctions on iran, according to the us treasury secretary, steven mnuchin. the president must decide by friday whether the sanctions on iran, lifted in 2015 as part of an international nuclear deal, will again be waived. they allow iran to sell oil and mean its central bank can operate worldwide. european powers, who signed the deal along with china and russia, say it is vital for international security. i am expecting new

sanctions on iran. we continue to look at them. we have rolled them out, and i think you can expect there would be more sanctions coming. i spokejust now to behnam ben talablu, senior iran analyst at the conservative thinktank the foundation for defence of democracies. it is highly likely that the president will seek to waive nuclear sanctions, to keep the us a party to thejoint comprehensive plan of action nuclear deal, while setting a predicate to target tehran‘s non—nuclear threats, be they ballistic missiles, human rights, terrorism and whatnot. i think ultimately the administration is still working out where it wants to go with the future of the deal, but in the interim, i think they will keep it, waive nuclear sanctions, and impose new non—nuclear ones. is there anything that other signatories to the deal, and there are many of them, and they are powerful, anything they can do? absolutely, i think within the european coalition it would help to bridge the trans—atlantic divide over

the lingering non—nuclear threats that tehran poses, such as human rights, money—laundering and terrorism. in particular, the french have been leading this coalition on ballistic missiles. the more america and europe walk in sync, with this consensus opinion on these threats, and use non—nuclear measures to deal with these threats, the less likely iran will be able to create cleavages within this coalition in the long run. given what you think mr trump is most likely to do, what you think will be the reaction in iran to that? anything i think that the trump administration does, the president, hassan rouhani, and the country's supreme leader, ali khamenei, will cry foul, even if there are new non—nuclear sanctions. they will try to frame those as nuclear sanctions, claimed the us is violating the deal. however the facts remain on the us‘s side. tehran‘s adherence to the deal is poor, at best, and it continues to escalate its non—nuclear threat. so tehran will cry foul, but it will be up to the europeans and international organisations to adjudicate between tehran and washington.

and, given the current climate, i suppose mr trump is not going to lose any votes in the united states by being, as he sees it, tough on iran. likely not. much of the response the president is considering, notjust to the nuclear deal, but to the protests in iran, are conditioned by the failures of the past administration to put america's strategy and values in concert with the protests in tehran. in pakistan, police have offered a ten million rupee reward for information leading to the killer of six—year—old zainab ansari. the discovery of the young girl's body has lead to violent protests in the city of kasur, where around a dozen other children have been killed in the past two years. secunder kermani reports from kasur. more anger on the streets of kasur. police and protesters clashed after the funerals of two men killed in the unrest. residents of the city have reacted with fury to the murder and sexual assault of six—year—old zainab ansari.

she went missing last thursday, whilst walking alone to a koran class. cctv images showed her being led away by the hand by an unknown man. her body was found in this rubbish dump on tuesday. her killer did not even bother to try and bury her. zainab‘s father attended prayers in the mosque opposite his house, asking god to ease his family's suffering. translation: it's like the world has ended. i was away in saudi arabia, and only come back last night. i have no words. he did not agree with the violent scenes elsewhere in the city, but he understood the protesters‘ anger with the police. translation: if the police had done theirjob properly, then they would have found her as soon as they got hold of the cctv. but they weren't interested.

the violent reaction in the city is notjust about the killing of zainab. around a dozen young children have been murdered here in the past two years. at least half of the cases are believed to be connected. there is still a lot of anger here today. these vehicles have been set alight outside one of the offices of a local provincial assembly member. people here want answers about why more was not done to stop this spate of killings earlier. asif baba's daughter was murdered almost exactly a year ago to the day. he has kept all her belongings in the room the family shared, including the teddy bear she gave him the day she disappeared. he believes the man who killed his daughter also killed zainab. translation: anger doesn't describe what i feel. my home is not a home anymore, it's a graveyard. when we heard about zainab‘s death, it was like i had lost my daughter all over again.

in the face of huge public pressure, politicians have flocked to meet zainab‘s family, promising justice will be done. the local police chief has been suspended, and a special investigative team has been set up. people here want the killer caught before he strikes again. secunder kermani, bbc news, kasur. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we meet the cameroonian refugee boxer in south korea, fighting for acceptance. day one of operation desert storm to force the iraqis out of kuwait has seen the most intense air attacks since the second world war. tobacco is america's oldest industry, and it's one of its biggest, but the industry is nervous of this report. this may tend to make people want to stop smoking cigarettes.

there is not a street that is unaffected. huge parts of kobe were simply demolished as buildings crashed into one another. this woman said she'd been given no help and no advice by the authorities. she stood outside the ruins of her business. tens of thousands of black children in south africa have taken advantage of laws, passed by the country's new multiracial government, and enrolled at formerly white schools. tonight sees the 9,610th performance of her long—running play, the mousetrap. when they heard about her death today, the management considered whether to cancel tonight's performance, but agatha christie would have been the last person to want such a thing. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: president trump's planned visit to the uk to open the new us embassy has been called off. rescue workers are searching for survivors following the deadly mudslides in southern california.

17 people are known to have died. a woman hospital patient in baltimore was escorted out of a hospital wearing only a gown and seemingly left on the street in near—freezing temperatures. the university of maryland medical center has issued an apology and is investigating the incident. imaru baraka was passing by, and intervened. he also video'd what was going on. are you 0k? do you need me to call the police? why don't you go and sit down, ma'am, you don't look well. i am at a local hospital where individuals have left the patient, half—naked, on the city streets and it's about 30 degrees out here right now. that is not ok. you need to call the police.

is there a supervisor available? so you are ok with leaving that woman out there like that? i'm a psychotherapist here in the city and clearly, there are some mental health issues that appear to be going on with this individual. come on, sit right here. come and sit down. come on, you've got to smile for me... there you go. you're going to be ok. there is the ambulance behind me and i'm really wondering if this is going to be the end result. at least four people have drowned and dozens are missing after a boat carrying venezuelan migrants sank on its way to the dutch caribbean island of curacao, police said.

the coastguard have reported a growing number of vessels carrying migrants from the south american country, which is suffering a severe economic crisis. sarah corker reports. this is all that is left of the small wooden boat used by up to 30 venezuelan migrants heading for the dutch island of curacao. in rough seas and overloaded with people, the boat broke into pieces and sank. police say they found the bodies of two women and two men. the search for the missing continues. 0pposition leaders said people were leaving venezuelan as an act of desperation as the economic crisis there worsens. translation: it gives us deep sadness to see how our young people fleeing terror because it is no longer a migration, it is a flight, an escape, a state of total despair which reached this sad and tragic end. the boat left from north—western falcon state to make the 80—mile

journey to curacao. venezuela has already closed air and sea traffic to the island, as well is to neighbouring aruba and bonaire, because of alleged smuggling. food and fuel in venezuela is heavily subsidised but in caracas, empty shelves in severe shortages are common. spiralling inflation and low prices have crippled this economy. translation: it is painful to see the shelves because there isn't anything to eat. i bought three things, what i could get, and honestly, my heart hurts. translation: this seems critical to me because honestly, we are going through a very serious crisis. a crisis so severe, opposition politicians say the poorest

are willing to risk dangerous journeys in search of work and a future. sarah corker, bbc news. thousands have gathered in lima in protest at the pardon granted to peru's former president alberto fujimori, who ruled the country in the 1990s. mr fujimori, who's 79, walked out ofjail last month, where he was serving time for corruption and crimes against humanity. but the pardon granted by the current president has sparked a political crisis. from lima, the bbc‘s daniel gallas. this is the fourth time peruvians have marched to show their contempt for what they say is political collusion at the top. this time they are not only asking for the pardon granted to alberto fujimori to be removed, they are are also asking for the current president to step down. last month, the president pardoned alberto fujimori just three days after a group of mps led by his son helped the president award an impeachment process of. he was

accused of receiving money at in exchange for contracts, he denies that the charges and striking a deal with alberto fujimori's family. but the actions have caused a major political crisis in baru. —— peru. the bbc‘s daniel gallas reporting from peru. lee heuk san is a champion boxer in south korea. he is a refugee, he escaped from his homeland in cameroon. but persuading his adopted country to accept him has been an uphill battle. here's his story. move. jab. step right. to your right. to your right! steven spielberg believes the trump administration is using the same

tactics as president nixon to "try to silence the press." friday sees the release of his latest film, ‘the post', which tells the story of the leaking of confidential papers during the vietnam era. the veteran director spoke to our arts editor, will gompertz. this is a devastating security breach. before the watergate scandal, there were the pentagon papers, the first expose of a cover—up in the richard nixon government led by ben bradley and kay graham. do you have the papers? set in 1971. yes. you described it as a timely movie. well it is obviously... you flip it and really get to see the great arc of the pendulum that has brought us right back to the same tactics richard nixon used to try to silence the press. i am talking about the current

administration and the absolute broadsiding of media, social media, news, anyone that offends, there is a label that is immediately attached to them which is called "well, that can't be true because they're all fake news." it is more insidious now than in 1971. if we publish, we could be in the supreme court next week. meaning? we could all go to prison. there has been another massive press expose a recently. the endemic sexual harassment in hollywood. you are a senior figure in hollywood and have been around a long time. do you think you could have done more to stop this? i can only react to that question in my own workplace environment. in my organisation, there were no instances except a few years ago

that gave me any experience to be an authority on that question. what happened in those instances? a couple of instances. i will not go into detail, they happened years ago. we had to let somebody go. people are concerned about having a woman in charge of the paper. that she does not have the resolve to make the tough choices. thank you, arthur, for you frankness. my prediction is this watershed moment for women, like with katharine graham, when she decided to publish, so many women have found their voices and have been given so much support, not just by other women, but by certain men. i think this is notjust another news cycle. i think this is a permanent change in the culture. maybe, but as kay graham showed in her leadership

at the washington post, exposing deeply rooted corrupt behaviour is one thing, changing it is quite another. will gompertz, bbc news. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. thank you for watching. hi there. i'll be the first one to admit the weather has not been exciting in the last few days. take yesterday, many of us had cloud, mist and fog. just a few cloud breaks, the best of these in south—west england and wales and across western scotland. they could remain there for friday. the cloud was low enough to touch the top of the tallest buildings in london. more of the same for friday. here's the picture.

low pressure in greenland, high pressure near finland. a long way away from the uk. and that means, for us, there is barely a breath of wind. that is why the weather is not changing a great deal. for many of us, a cloudy start. yes, there will be a few mist and fog patches dotted around. some of the worst of these in northern ireland and the somerset levels. poor visibility. down to below 100m in a few places. hill fog elsewhere. don't expect any major changes elsewhere. a few sunny spells coming through. i think the best of these in parts of south—west england and wales and running up into western scotland. perhaps northern ireland as well. but across central and eastern england, that is where the cloud is likely to be rather thicker. there could be occasional brighter spells. but on the whole, quite a cloudy day. it could even be thick enough for the occasional spot of drizzle from time to time. heading through friday night,

little overall change, cloud in central and eastern areas. to the west, there is a change. this atlantic front begins to slowly move through bringing rain towards the end of the night towards northern ireland. that takes us to saturday. the start of the weekend. this is a slow—moving weather front. stuck underneath this band of rain, it could rain most of the day. some coming and going. further east, cloud. bright and sunny spells. perhaps more of these in east anglia in south—east england than we have seen. sunday, another pretty cloudy affair. this band of rain eventually will swing south and eastwards as we go on through sunday night and into monday, clearing out of the way. then, the weather gets more exciting next week, you will be pleased to hear, as cold air comes surging back in. it could be turning much colder. it could be windy, perhaps very windy at times, quite early on in the week. and cold enough for some snow, especially in the north, on the hills, and especially on northern hills.

that's your latest weather. this is bbc news. the headlines: president trump has abandoned his plans to visit britain next month. unofficial source has confirmed to the bbc. the us president had been expected to open the new american embassy in london. it is understood he didn't want to be connected with a building that he felt what the legacy of president 0bama. there was also the possibility of large—scale public protests. in california, rescuers are using helicopters, search dogs and thermal imaging equipment to try to find eight people missing since tuesday's devastating mudslides. 17 people are known to have died. at least 500 homes have been damaged or destroyed. police in pakistan have offered a ten million rupee reward for information leading to the killer of six—year—old zainab ansari. there've been violent protests since the young girl's body was found on a rubbish dump. there've been 12 similar murders in the past two years. now it's time for hardtalk.