this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: protestors in barcelona demand the release of catalonia's separatist leaders. the regional parliament's set to reopen for the first time since it was shut down by madrid. 20 countries back the strict enforcement of sanctions against north korea in the latest bid to curb its nuclear ambitions. crisis in cape town — the worst drought in a century means water is running out fast. technology and terrorism — the world's social media giants attend a hearing in the us aimed at tackling the spread of extremist material. also in business, we'll be live to sydney for the latest on the australia's pokie problem. it has the country topping the list of nations

with the biggest gambling losses. a warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. and, as the likes of facebook, twitter, google are grilled about extreme content on their platforms, we're asking how should these companies police the web, or should they be regulated? join in the conversation, send your comments to hashtag bbc the briefing. the catalan parliament opens today for the first time since the regional separatist government was dismissed in october last year for attempting to break away from spain.

three separatist parties are now attempting to re—form a coalition government following the snap elections in december. on the eve of the scheduled opening session, thousands of people attended a rally in barcelona's city centre in support ofjailed catalan separatists. our europe reporter gavin lee reports from barcelona. the catalan parliament where the only official business for the last two months has been clearing the cobwebs. standing empty since being shut down by the spanish government following the attempt of separatist regional leaders here to break away and in the snap elections in december note party gained a majority. today is the opening of parliament and separatist parties are being given the formal mandate to try to form a coalition and they are also expected to propose the

ex—president carles puigdemont as their leader again only he won't be sitting here as usual because he is in self—imposed exile in belgium but his party says he can lead even if he is 800 miles away. it can work as it works in any other country. the president of the united states does not lead from each and every city and every village of the us. critics of ca rles and every village of the us. critics of carles puigdemont said that he is putting himself above the law. he is wa nted putting himself above the law. he is wanted to face allegations of sedition and rebellion. would it be better for the party and for him to come to spain, catalonia to face what he has to face? he already faced justice, he went to brussels asa faced justice, he went to brussels as a free man because when he went to belgium he travelled to belgium, no charges were made against him and thatis no charges were made against him and that is why he remained in belgium, because spanish justice cannot grant him afair because spanish justice cannot grant him a fair trial. the catalan region is still being ruled by madrid using emergency powers they enforced after

the separatists illegal declaration of independence. the spanish government says those measures will be in place if carles puigdemont tries to rule from afar. the question is so serious that we cannot take that as a joke and u nfortu nately cannot take that as a joke and unfortunately it looks like a joke, like a hologram, political hologram will take place in politics and this is affecting the life of people. so i think there is no possibility after normal and real politics to have a virtual president. the spanish government does not have any power to stop ca rles spanish government does not have any power to stop carles puigdemont becoming president from brussels?m is not a question of power, it is a question of law, so it will be the constitutional court who will have the definite and final say. the cata la n the definite and final say. the catalan parliament has two weeks to propose the next leader and in contrast to the sound and fury of the recent months of protest and political discontent there is now a visible if temporary period of calm

as the next more formal stage of the crisis plays out. and we will discuss that in more detail, looking at the spanish press, how they are digestive latest developments, but let's move on. foreign ministers from 20 countries have been meeting in canada, to try to exert concerted pressure on north korea to give up its nuclear ambitions. the group is made up solely of countries which were involved in the korean war more than half a century ago, but two key international players, north korea's neighbours russia and china, are not there. at a news conference, rex tillerson said the us is open to talks with north korea but only if it stops its threatening behaviour. the united states has always been open to clear messages with north korea, and we have sent north korea clear messages that we are ready for serious negotiations. north korea knows that channels are open and they know where to find us. but a sustained cessation of north korea's threatening

behaviour is necessary... is a necessary indicator of whether the regime is ready to pursue a peaceful diplomatic resolution to the security threat that it has created. our nations must remain united on sustaining pressure until north korea takes concrete steps toward and ultimately reaches denuclearisation. the canadian foreign minister, chrystia freeland, said all 20 countries agreed sanctions on north korea would be strictly enforced. the 20 nations represented here in vancouver have agreed that we must work together to ensure that sanctions imposed on north korea are strictly enforced. we also agree that we must take significant steps to keep north korea from invading sanctions and to sever financial lifelines for the country's weapons of mass destruction. i do want to say that we as a group harbour no hostility whatsoever

towards north korea or its people. we seek neither a regime change nor a collapse. what we do want is to resolve this crisis peacefully, to achieve what is in our collective best interests, and that is security and stability on the korean peninsular. and we'll have more on that story later in the programme. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. a court in hong kong has sentenced the pro—democracy student activist joshua wong to three months in prison. wong had pleaded guilty to a charge of contempt, in connection with the 2014 street protests by the pro—democracy umbrella movement. he refused to obey a legal injunction and leave a protest site. another activist, lester shum, was given a suspended jail term. the us navy has said the former commanding officers of two of its destroyers which were involved in deadly collisions

in the pacific will face criminal charges. i7 sailors were killed in the crashes. in the first collision injune, the uss fitzgerald collided with a cargo vessel off the coast of japan, with the loss of seven lives. ten more were killed when the uss john mccain hit an oil tanker east of singapore in august. the lives of her parents, sister and the driver of a second car. executives from youtube, facebook and twitter are due to attend a hearing in the us aimed at tackling the spread of extremist material. all three of the platforms have already taken measures to prevent terrorist propaganda but politicians

worldwide are calling for more to be done. cornelia meyer is the ceo of mrl corporation, a business consultancy, and shejoins me now. friend of the briefing. it is good to see you. so, give us your take on this very difficult story. i say difficult, because it is hard to know how to police these social media sites. well, it is hard to know, and you're getting into several issues here. one, it is very ha rd to several issues here. one, it is very hard to police. a lot of, you know, the flow through twitter and youtube is humongous and a lot of it is policed by algorithms which might not pick things up. twitter is said to have 1000 people policing. 1000 people. you and i use twitter. we know how active it is. 1000 people

is not enough. then you are in this field of national security versus personal liberties. you know, we all know our countries need to be kept safe, so we probably should have mi6, safe, so we probably should have m16, nsa, safe, so we probably should have mi6, nsa, cia safe, so we probably should have m16, nsa, cia involved, but then we are democracies, which put a very high premium on the civil liberties, and you've seen what happened with edward snowden and the whole debate on, you know, how intrusive can see security agencies ‘cause which, in china, in rush hour, it is not so much of a problem. if you are the uk, the us, you have the civil liberties, you are in a very murky space. where do we go from here? we have had this debate for some time and there are questions about, as you say, you know, twitter added so many people, google added 10,000 people to keep and there are

questions about, as you say, you know, twitter added so many people, google added 10,000 people to keep an eye on what is on and try to quickly remove things seen as extremist war, you know, obviously going beyond the boundaries that they see as acceptable, but many are calling for these organisations, these companies to be regulated. calling for these organisations, these companies to be regulatedlj think these companies to be regulated.” think that there has to be a certain degree of regulation. and when you look at it i think what was google who said 99% we get before they even post it. there is still 1%. and with terrorism, a terrorist only needs to be lucky once. the people protecting people need to be lucky 100% of the time, or on top of it. so it is really tough. it is really tough to catch it and, again, the civil liberty debate, watch it, if we have more regulation the civil liberty debate will come up immediately. for now, thank you very much indeed. she now, thank you very much indeed. she now has to get stuck into many other stories that we are covering today

in the global media coming up shortly. quite a few of you have beenin shortly. quite a few of you have been in touch already on this story because we asked what you believe should be done about this issue. we have charlie in bracken ridge colorado on the late evening news, super wealthy companies can create thousands of jobs super wealthy companies can create thousands ofjobs to moderate terrorist material. it is possible and necessary in an era of computer algorithms and possible job losses. interesting take. just some of the views coming in. someone simply tweeted, saying the question, should they be regulated ? tweeted, saying the question, should they be regulated? 0ne tweeted, saying the question, should they be regulated? one answer is no, two characters, no. stay with us here. also on the programme: world heavyweight champion anthony joshua says he‘s ready to go to war in his unification clash with kiwi joseph parker. that and more in the sport briefing. 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 of 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. you‘re watching the briefing.

0ur headlines: protestors in barcelona have demanded the release of catalonia‘s separatist leaders ahead of the reopening of the regional parliament. 20 countries have called for the strict enforcement of sanctions against north korea in the latest bid to curb its nuclear ambitions. let‘s get more on that now. 0ur seoul correspondent sophie long joins us from the south korean capital. quite interesting timing, we‘re been talking about these delicate talks between north korea and south korea but where their representatives from south korea in vancouver as well? exactly, it‘s very interesting. a real illustration of the several levels of diplomacy taking place at the moment. we‘ve had this meeting

of 20 nations in bank over who‘s been looking at ways to get pyongyang to the negotiating table and talk about denuclearisation —— in vancouver who‘s been. in the dmc, that separates north and south korea, there were talks about getting the pyongyang delegation to the winter olympics. —— dmz. there was solidarity, they used the same language, the denuclearisation of not career must be complete, verifiable and irreversible and a nuclear armed north korea isn‘t a cce pta ble nuclear armed north korea isn‘t acceptable —— north korea. a real show north korea and south korea are on the same page. we haven‘t had reaction from north korea to that but when moonjae—in, the south korean president, came out after the high—level talks, the first in two yea rs, high—level talks, the first in two years, he stood there the day afterwards and he said he credited

donald trump with helping to get these new talks going. that wasn‘t received very well in south korea. north korea, sorry. there have been several articles in the state run press criticising moonjae—in for saying that and saying they won‘t ta ke saying that and saying they won‘t take kindly to anyone pouring cold water on this new phase of what they‘re calling potential reconciliation. it‘s an illustration also of just how reconciliation. it‘s an illustration also ofjust how tight reconciliation. it‘s an illustration also of just how tight the reconciliation. it‘s an illustration also ofjust how tight the path of the south korean government must tread here. they need to keep their international allies on side while at the same time trying to engage north korea in genuine dialogue. many are wondering what impact this meeting in vancouver is going to have given the fact china and russia aren‘t there. have given the fact china and russia aren't there. exactly. this is a meeting of 20 nations, neither china or russia were present at that meeting. 0ne or russia were present at that meeting. one of the things they discussed was how to implement the sanctions already in place, there we re sanctions already in place, there were several rounds of fairly hard economic sanctions imposed against north korea, the last of which came

into effect in december. in the past weeks there have been accusations chinese and russian ships have been helping north korea to be those sanctions of carrying out ship to ship transfers of oil, which violates the sanctions, both chinese and russian authorities deny that but both countries have expressed their discontent at not being this —— at this meeting. sergey lavrov said it was disruptive and a chinese spokesman said to reporters how can you sort out the north korean issue when important parties to that issue aren‘t present. when important parties to that issue aren't present. thanks very much, sophie. we‘ll talk to sophie again soon. cape town could become the first major city in the world to run out of water as soon as april. south african officials are warning the city‘s worst drought in living memory could force them to shut off taps and impose emergency water rationing. each person would get a maximum of 25 litres of water a day. experts predict that there is just over 90 days of water left in the city.

sarah corker reports. there may be water all around cape town, but little of it is drinkable. the south african city is suffering its worst drought in more than a century. democratic national after three years of very low rainfall, western cape dams are now less than a third full. and the authorities are warning of a day zero, the day the taps run dry, it could come as soon as the 22nd of april. if that happens there will be emergency water rationing. i do hope that the government is doing something to prevent day zero because it would be a national crisis. honestly it would be horrific when day zero comes. it‘s going to be very scary but i think it‘s a reality unfortunately. a reality that would make cape town famous for being the world‘s first major city to run out of water.

its a million residents already face strict limits on the amount of water they can use. there are bands on washing cars and filling up pools. people are urged to shower for no longer than two minutes and to flush toilets as little as possible. businesses are doing their bit to save water, but there‘s been some criticism of the government‘s approach. why are we looking at day zero? are there no other alternatives other than to close up my hotel and switch off all the taps? there are alternatives and there are countries in this world that have proven there are ways to deal with drought and with desert regions. one has to just look at the middle east and see what israel did to the desert there in respect to desalinisation. south africa is building desalinisation plants and drilling more boreholes, but officials say if dam levels fall below 13.5%, the water supply to cape town will be turned off.

people here have been warned, every drop counts. sarah corker, bbc news. some of the big names of the tennis world have been overshadowed by a teenager on day four of the australian 0pen. while rafael nadal is currently on court and caroline wozniacki won her match, the star of the morning session was marta kostyuk of ukraine. the 15—year—old teenager became the youngest player since 1995 to reach the third round. she beat the australian 0livia rogowska in straight sets. now it‘s time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i‘m sarah mulkerrins and welcome to your sport briefing for wednesday. chelsea are hoping the fa cup can bring them some silverware this season, leicester book their place in the fourth round of it, with the first goal to be decided by var in english football,

and antonyjoshua says it‘s an honour to face his next opponent joseph parker. defending champions chelsea have a lot of ground to catch up on in the premier league, so could the fa cup be the next best thing for antonio conte‘s side? they‘re at home to norwich on wednesday in their third round replay. last time out, the second tier side managed to hold on for a 0—0 draw at carrow road, but chelsea will be looking for much more than that this time. conte‘s side have now drawn their last four matches in all competitions. and the cup football continues across europe on wednesday. in spain there are three copa del rey quarter—final first legs. reigning champions barcelona, who are running away with the spanish league this year, travel to face catalan rivals espanyol. and the hosts will be hoping for a better result than their league match in september, where they were thrashed 5—0.

now, they may be second in the nba‘s eastern conference, and have one of the league‘s best records this season, but the toronto raptors are looking to get back to winning ways at home to the detroit pistons on wednesday. the raptors have hit a bit of a sticky patch of late, losing their last two matches. last time out they were beaten 117—111 on the road in philadelphia. joel embiid top scored for the 76ers with 3a points and despite a late ralley, the raptors couldn‘t catch them. kelechi iheanacho became the first player to score a goal awarded by a video assistant referee in english football, as leicester beat third tier side, fleetwood town in their fa cup third—round replay. iheanacho opened the scoring

with a routine strike from an islam slimani pass. the big talking point of the game came when ihenacho had a goal disallowed for offside, but refereejonathan moss liaised with video official, mikejones, and the goal was awarded 68 seconds after it hit the back of the net. leicester will play peterbrough in the fourth round. world heavyweight champion anthonyjoshua said it was an honour to be sat next to fellow world champion joseph parker, but that was pretty much the only compliment he paid him as the pair announced their unifcation bout. the fight, in cardiff on march the 31st, will uniinyoshua‘s wba and ibf belts with the kiwi‘s wbo title. i need to win. can't afford to lose. i want to do it in a clinical way, know what i mean? that‘s important. ifi know what i mean? that‘s important. if i have to go to war and drain my body of sweat and energy, i‘ll do that to get the win, that‘s no

problem. i want to do it in a clinical way. a clinical way, not the easy way. now, the australian open tennis is in full swing in melbourne and while most of the attention has been on the players, one man in particular stole the show on tuesday. american actor will ferrell, in the guise of character ron burgundy from the film anchorman, interu pted roger federer‘s on—court interview to ask a few questions of his own. tonight you seemed like a gazelle out there on the court. would you describe your game as a silky gazelle? maybe. maybe not. don't they get eaten at the end? not if they‘re fast enough. i think federer did well there and he also used his line, stay classy,

san diego at the end of that. that‘s your sport briefing for wednesday. he‘s a bit of a legend, roger federer! the central philippine province of albay has declared a state of calamity as the mount mayon volcano spews lava. it‘s now reached the limits of a no—go zone and spreading ash on nearby villages. the most active volcano in the philippines has been erupting since saturday. back in 1814 it buried a town and killed 1,200 people. thousands have been evacuated this time. you can imagine they do not want a repeat of history. that‘s what‘s going on at the moment. stay with me on bbc news, i‘ll be back with the business briefing in just a few moments, we‘ll have more on that technology and terrorism hearing. we‘ve seen frequent snow showers in

parts of scotland, northern ireland, northern england on tuesday with significant accumulations in places and further snow showers overnight and further snow showers overnight and first thing on wednesday has prompted the met office to issue and the be prepared warnings for snow and ice. a double wham to greet us first thing on wednesday morning. very strong winds overnight, gale force wind places, also a bit of coastal flooding in the south—west with the high tides. blizzard conditions across many northern hills as well. across the south and east, link the dry spells with clear skies so it will be quite chilly but everywhere starts cold and windy on wednesday. wintry showers in places but increasing amounts of sunshine through the course of the day. if we start the tour across the north of the country, plenty of snow showers from the word go across scotland,

northern ireland and the far north of england. blizzard on the hills, some drifting as well, if you factor in the wind, watch out for icy stretches, treacherous conditions on some of the higher roads. further south, fewer showers around, a few running through the cheshire gap and the south—west but blustery wherever you are despite the fact some of you are waking to blue skies with sunshine. through the day it will be very windy certainly through the second part of the morning, into the afternoon the winds eased down a little bit and the showers do as well, be coming more confined to scotla nd well, be coming more confined to scotland and northern ireland with further accumulations of snow on the hills. england and wales, could deal of sunshine, wrap up when you head out but not too bad with the sunshine. wednesday night, this will be key, this deepening area of low pressure will bring us a spell of wet and windy weather. a spell of severe gales and rain spreading across england and wales, snow to its northern flank for northern ireland, central southern scotland and northern england for a time,

could be quite heavy but it all moves out quickly during thursday morning and it‘s an improving picture to the day with more sunshine around. further showers in northern and western areas, these again falling as snow on the hills and 3—9, feeling colder with the wind, though. this area of low pressure moving through could cause problems, heavy rain, gale force winds, severe gales and snow. keep tuned in to your local radio. this is business briefing. i‘m sally bundock. technology and terrorism — the world‘s social media giants attend a hearing in the us aimed at tackling the spread of extremist material. and australia‘s pokie problem has the country topping the list of nations with the biggest gambling losses. and on financial markets, if you

follow bitcoin, it is plunging again today after a torrid 2a hours. in asia, you can see so fight it is headed south. —— so far.