hello and welcome to bbc news. i'm kasia madera. last—ditch efforts are being made in the us senate to prevent a shutdown of the government. with a vote due shortly, republicans leaders are struggling to convince all their senators, as well as the necessary number of democrats, to pass a spending bill which would extend the funding of federal agencies until next month. let's go live to washington now and our correspondent, ——jon —— jon sopel reports. a year ago today donald trump promise to make america great again, promising to drain the swamp, promising to fix the nation's broken politics. this american carnage stops right here and stops right now. one year on, the government stands being paralysed by the prospect of a shutdown that nobody wants, with democrats and republicans fighting bitterly over a funding deal for federal institutions.

and at times like this, washington goes into its favourite pursuit — the blame game. at the white house this morning, the president's budget director was taking aim at the democrats. the president is actively working right now to try to prevent a shutdown. i will contend to you that it's dramatically different to what president obama was doing in 2013, so there is no way you can lay this at the feet of the president of the united states. he is actively working to working to try to get a deal. but in the senate, the democrat leadership is blaming the white house. i hope the president willjoin us. if he will, we can solve this problem. if he stands on the sidelines, we cannot. although a glimmer of hope came with news that the democrat leader in the senate, chuck schumer, had been to the white house to see donald trump. we discussed all of the major outstanding issues. we made some progress but we still have a good number of disagreements. the discussions will continue. all chant: this is what america looks like! at the core of this is a row over what should happen to the children

of illegal immigrants who came into the country with their parents, the so—called dreamers. a deal that allowed them to come out of the shadows and work legally expires in march. the clock is ticking with no sign of an imminent breakthrough. the only a shutdown? but in washington, it's all about who wins or loses, democrats or republicans. here's how he put it. we face growing threats from revisionist powers as different

as china and russia are from each other, nations that do seek to create a world consistent with their authoritarian models, pursuing veto authority over other nations' economic, diplomatic and security decisions. rogue regimes like north korea and iran persist in taking outlaw actions that threaten regional and even global stability, oppressing their own people and even shredding their own people's dignity and human rights, they push their warped views outward. the us defence secretary james mattis. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. russia has denied withdrawing its forces from the syrian region of afrin ahead of an expected turkish attack. turkish media earlier said moscow had started pulling its personnel out of the enclave, which is controlled by kurdish fighters. but the russian foreign minister said these reports had been refuted. pope francis has sounded a stark warning about the future of the amazon and its communities.

addressing a group of indigenous people in the peruvian amazon, the pope said the region had never been so threatened. he lamented the pressure being exerted on indigenous communities by business interests keen to exploit the region for oil, gas, food and gold. the number of venezuelans fleeing a severe economic crisis to take up residency in colombia has jumped by more than 60% in the last six months. officials say more than 550,000 venezuelans are now living in colombia, mostly illegally. the influx is putting pressure on the government to provide the migrants with food, shelter and medical care. europe is recovering from a major storm which has left nine people dead. planes struggled to land in dusseldorf in germany where winds were up to 140 km/h. the ferocity of the winds caught some forecasters by surprise. in the netherlands, the storm caused major damage to buildings. let's return to a —— our top story

and crossed to washington and our correspondent david willis who joins us correspondent david willis who joins us live. we believe this vote will ta ke us live. we believe this vote will take facing just under two hours, at least we hope so. that's right. that's the word, that there will be this crucial vote at 10pm, local time here. it's been called by the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and the question remains, does he have the majority? the 16 votes he needs in the senate to get this vote through. of course all of this vote through. of course all of this has been founded on the programme over the question of immigration policy, particularly over the democrats' desire to have

items included in their regarding the so—called dreamers, the 800,000 or $0 the so—called dreamers, the 800,000 or so young people who came to the united states illegally. chuck schumer, the senate minority leader, met with president trump at the white house earlier today. he said afterwards that they made some progress, but that discussions would continue. president trump also said progress had been made, but they will have to go some if they are going to get the 60 votes for that senate vote tonight, because there are couple of republicans at least who will not be voting along party lines and that means that the outcome is very much touch and go. and even if it does go, even if they do get some sort of decision, this isa do get some sort of decision, this is a mere temporary fixture, isn't it? that's right. the republicans are voting on a plan to fund the

government forjust four are voting on a plan to fund the government for just four weeks. that's one of the key issues here, because the democrats had wanted it all conditional on the dreamers being part of all this, that their case be taken up in legislation... legislative terms very soon. they wa nted legislative terms very soon. they wanted just a couple of days of extension here, so you are absolutely right. even if it is adopted, this measure, by the senate tonight, it buys time, but only a short amount of time. my goodness, it is going to be a busy night for you. a couple of hours to go and we will find out if the vote will happen. thank you very much as always. there will be no government challenge to the decision to release the serial sex attackerjohn worboys. the former black—cab driver was jailed in 2009 for attacking 12 women, but it's suspected he assaulted and raped many more. thejustice secretary david gauke admits he shares the concerns of worboys's victims,

but that it would not be appropriate to seek judicial review of the parole board's ruling to free him. two of his victims are mounting their own challenge to try to keep worboys in prison. he is one of the country's most notorious serial sex offenders. in his black cab, john worboys cruised for victims, not fares. he was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting 12 women. one of them, he raped. but it's feared he may have attacked more than 100 in total. at the top of government, as elsewhere, there was astonishment at the decision to release him after less than a decade in prison. the week began with thejustice secretary looking to challenge the decision in the courts. but today, he announced that after taking legal advice, he wouldn't be going down that route. he tried to offer reassurance to worboys' victims. let me be absolutely clear. worboys will not be released

until their representations have been properly considered and his licence conditions are in place. indeed, last week, i asked for assurances that the views of victims were being taken into account and that robust licensing conditions would be put in place to manage his risk. but as one politician withdraws from the court arena, another, sadiq khan, the labor mayor of london, says he's now investigating whether he can bring a legal challenge. worboys is currently being held at wakefield prison in west yorkshire. lawyers for some of his victims are questioning why he's being freed from what is a top securityjail. and in a letter to the parole board outlining why they plan to mount a legal challenge, they say: "what is of particular significance is the degree of planning over many "years that went into his offending. "that is difficult behaviour to change". we presently don't know the reasons why he's been granted release. but what we do know the nature

and scope and extent of his offending. we know that up until very recently, he was denying responsibility for the offence. he may still be. we know that the parole board only the previous year refused to move him to open prison because they considered he was still a risk. what has changed over that time? prosecutors have been under pressure to explain why worboys didn't face more charges at his trial. tonight, the head of the crown prosecution service was pressed on whether he could face fresh charges. we have certainly said that we will review any cases that the police may want to refer to us and indeed, we are talking to the police about if there is any action that can be taken, or giving them advice if they're asking for it. the conditionsjohn worboys will have to abide by when he's which is being crowdfunded, next week. and while that's going on,

the black cab rapist, as he's known, will stay behind bars. june kelly reporting. a teenager has pleaded not guilty to trying to kill passengers in a bomb attack on the london underground. ahmed hassan, who's 18, denied attempted murder, and causing an explosion at parsons green tube station in west london last september. 30 passengers were taken to hospital. his trial has been set for the 5th of march. two former us olympic gymnasts have been testifying in the case involving former team usa doctor larry nassar. the pair, who won gold at london 2012, are among more than 100 women to have accused nassar of sexual abuse. he's already facing 60 years in prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges. 0ur correspondent rajini vaidynathan has been speaking to one of his victims. they were nicknamed the fierce five,

america's gold—winning gymnastics team. but four of these women were hiding a dark secret. they say they were sexually abused by this man, their team doctor larry nassar, who's been described as a monster in court. today, the team captain was the latest to share her story. you are so sick, i can't even comprehend how sick i feel when i think of you. you lied to me and manipulated me. you made me think that you were closing your eyes because you had been working hard when you were touching an innocent child to pleasure yourself. seen here at the london 2012 games, she was just 18 her team won gold. but behind the scenes, larry nassar was abusing her. larry was the olympic doctor and he molested me at the 2012 london olympic games. abusers, your time is up. the survivors are here, standing tall and we are not going anywhere. her team—mate also shared her story in court.

0ur bodies were all hanging by a thread in london. who was the doctor sent to keep us healthy and help us get through? the doctor that was our abuser. the doctor that is a child molester. for years there have been concerns about him, but many survivors say they were ignored, as victims were notjust decorated 0lympians but the children of family friends and state—level gymnasts like gwen anderson. the champion athlete who competed for the state of michigan, gwen is seen here at 1a. she was just 12 when she first received treatment from larry nassar. instead, he molested her time and time again. to have your name and your face and your story out for everybody to see is a scary thing. he was my safe place, he was going to protect me.

and he took that and used it against all of us. for so many, this was a doctor they trusted implicitly. for the record, go to hell. tom brennan was gwen‘s coach and once a close friend of nassar‘s. did you have any idea of what he was doing? none. zero idea. we had the utmost trust for that man and that is where we went wrong. all this week, young women have packed this small courtroom, as they get to do what few survivors of sexual abuse ever have a chance to do — directly confront their attacker. there has been a real sense of collective empowerment here. already more than 80 women have shared their testimonies in this case and every day, more are coming forward saying they want to share their stories too. tonight, the list of women who say they want to speak out has grown to as many as 120. the judge says every woman who wants to face larry in court will be given the chance to.

rajini vaidynathan, bbc news, lansing, michigan. you are watching bbc news. these are the latest headlines: donald trump says he is making progress in avoiding a shutdown of the us federal government, after meeting senior democrats at the white house. let's stay with that story now. i have been speaking to quentin kidd, who is a professor in political science and director of the wason centre for public policy at christopher newport university, in virginia. he says these negotiations are more complicated this time around. pa rt part of the problem here is that you have got three parties negotiating with each other. normally you have the republicans and the democrats negotiating, but now you have the republicans and the democrats and president donald trump negotiating, and they are not always on the same pagers. and that is part of the problem here, and so you saw chuck

schumer go directly to donald trump to negotiate today, bypassing republicans in the senate. and that says a lot about the dynamics of politics in washington at the moment. now, the crux is, the breaking point is daca, the dreamers. just explained to us what the problem is, what the republicans and the democrats can't negotiate on, what they can't agree to? so these are 800,000 people who are brought to the united states by their parents when they were minors. their parents came into the country illegally. but these were children that grew up here. some of them were infa nts, that grew up here. some of them were infants, some of them were ten, 12 yea rs infants, some of them were ten, 12 years old. they were minors. president obama signed an executive order in 2012 essentially protecting them, giving them the right to work and to live legally in society. donald trump rescinded that order, that executive order, and said i am going to give congress a year to make them either legal or make them leave. that deadline is coming up in

march, and that is the pressure the democrats feel. because a lot of immigrant reform groups that support these daca children are democratic supporters, and they are putting pressure on the democrats to make da ca pressure on the democrats to make daca fixes a part of the budget deal. democrats let two budget cycles, to short—term budget deals go through without tying daca to them. they decided to take a stand this time, and we may see a government shutdown because of it. but professor kidd, there are democrats who don't want to be seen to be too giving towards the dreamers, the so—called dreamers, because they are looking forward to the midterms in november. yes, there area the midterms in november. yes, there are a small number of democratic senators who are running for re—election this november in states where daca is not supported. i am talking about senatorjoe mansion from west virginia, a state which

voted for donald trump, job mansion wa nts to voted for donald trump, job mansion wants to win the election, wants another term in the senate, and so there are about half a dozen senators like joe there are about half a dozen senators likejoe who understand that the democrats need to care about these daca recipients, and need to take notice of their supporters that talk about them. but they are in states which supported donald trump, and that puts those senators in a vice. well, the impasse over the us budget comes as donald trump marks a year since his inauguration as president. a property billionaire, a political novice, he was dismissed by many as lacking the skills and experience needed for the top office. 12 months on, how supportive are americans of their leader? laura trevelyan has been to pennsylvania, to meet trump voters, and those less convinced by the president. this valley in western pennsylvania is the birthplace of us steel. this factory was once owned by the

19th—century magnate andrew carnegie. in its heyday, it employed thousands. donald trump tapped into the sense of industrial decline, winning by promising to put america first. 0ver lunch, iasked winning by promising to put america first. 0ver lunch, i asked trump voters for their verdict on year 1. seems like he cares about the working class. he cares about the people who are trying to make a living, and have big businesses, and things like that, small businesses. he cares about things like that. some of the stuff he does i agree with, like the tax cuts, looking out for the working class people like that. but i am not a big fan of all the rants on social media, and i can do away with all of that. how are you feeling about that vote? little disappointed. this man, in the valley, hoped trump would run government like the ceo. so does this former 0bama voter regret switching to trump? when i went into

the polling booth, i was satisfied. iam the polling booth, i was satisfied. i am having buyers remorse. why? because it is not consistent. john isa because it is not consistent. john is a democrat in trump country. you get out to some of these areas that no one has visited, no one has taken the time to care, left it really open and ripe for someone to step in like a donald trump and say, you know, i am the guy that can fix this. the populist mayor of braddock, with a tattoo of the town's lit code, counsels his party town's lit code, counsels his party to understand trump's appeal. it's got to be more than trump is awful, but for us. and again, i think it has to come back to earnest progressive, populist message. has to come back to earnest progressive, populist messagem his inaugural address a year ago, donald trump promised people in towns like braddock that he would give them back theirjobs and their dreams. there is an early electoral test here in pennsylvania, of whether the voters feel like he is delivering. there is a special election in the state, in what should be a safe republican seat.

but the president is taking no chances. a real friend and a spectacular man. that is the candidate here. mr trump doesn't wa nt to candidate here. mr trump doesn't want to lose this election, and he was in the valley thursday with this message. very simply, your pay cheques will be much bigger. because under our tax cuts you will be keeping more of your hard earned money. the question is whether mr trump can get the credit here for an improving economy, or if the heat generated by his tweets and feuds is distracting even his own voters fool —— voters. laura trevelyan in pennsylvania. the prime minister is to have a meeting with president trump in switzerland next week. both leaders will be attending the world economic forum in davos. last week, mr trump announced that he would not be coming to the uk next month to open the new american embassy in south london. an inquest into the death of the cranberries' singer, dolores 0'riordan, has opened and been adjourned. she was found dead in her

hotel room in park lane in central london on monday. 0ur correspondent david sillito was at westminster coroner's court. the lead singer of the very successful band the cranberries. she was staying in london, and she was found at the hotel in mayfair, unresponsive. the ambulance service was called, and she was declared dead at the scene. the police said that they are treating the death as non— suspicious, but today's inquest it was said a number of tests have been carried out, the results of which won't be known forever couple of weeks. so that inquest was opened and adjourned again until another hearing will take place on three april. there has been more gloom for the high street, with figures showing that the growth in retail sales slowed last year. it wasn't a great christmas, either, with sales down 1.5% in december compared with the previous month, which was boosted by people taking advantage of black friday offers. emma simpson reports. in this sale, there is half price on

selected carpets and beds...m should be the busiest time of year for britain's big as floor coverings retailer. trouble is, it has been anything but. carpetright‘s prices may have been cut by half, u nfortu nately its may have been cut by half, unfortunately its share price almost did the same today after it was warned its profits would tumble. carpetright says falling consumer confidence is behind what it describes as sharp deterioration in trading. in other words, shoppers are holding back from buying these big—ticket items. there wasn't much to cheer about for this company, either. sales in its clothing shops we re either. sales in its clothing shops were down by nearly 10% compared with the previous year, calling its share price to plummet as well. we are still spending on the high street, and increasingly online, but judging by these shoppers in

skipton, we are also being careful. we are looking more for the bargains on the offers than the actual full priced clothes. ifi need on the offers than the actual full priced clothes. if i need something, i get it. if i don't, i don't buy it, no matter how cheap it is. if i don't need it, what is the point? so what has been going on? december is an absolutely critical month for retailers and in truth christmas has been pretty disappointing. not properly not that surprising. inflation hit a five—year high in the run—up to christmas, and this really put people's personal finances are under a lot of strain. the other really significant impact is black friday. when online orders and parcels are on the move, this is shopping extravaganza has changed the pattern of christmas spending. we are doing more of it in november. at over the whole christmas quarter, growth slowed. the question is, will this year be as challenging as the last? from hollyoaks to hollywood — that could become a reality for two former stars of the channel 4 soap opera. next week, rachel shenton and chris 0verton find out if their20—minute drama the silent child has been nominated

at the oscars. ms shenton wrote the film to highlight how sign language can change lives. she cast maisie sly, a profoundly deaf six—year—old girl, in the lead role. 0ur entertainment correspondent colin paterson has been to meet them. yeah, i mean this story is incredibly close to my heart. i want her to speak... the silent child tells the story of a deaf girl struggling to communicate. i think she'll be able to have a career in whatever she likes. rachel shenton, who used to be in hollyoaks, wrote and stars in the short film, inspired by her own family's experience. she is a qualified sign language interpreter. my dad lost his hearing when i was younger, and he actually lived the last two years of his life profoundly deaf. and i saw then just how hard that was on a family, and i started to learn sign language. she made the film to draw attention to the fact that more than three

quarters of deaf children in the uk attend mainstream school without any specialist help. deafness isn't a learning difficulty. and with the right support, a deaf child can do exactly the same as a hearing child. that was the big message. all: mouse wanted to find out! the star of the film, maisie sly, is six, and profoundly deaf. her family moved from plymouth to swindon especially so she could attend a mainstream school, which does offer support. she had never acted before. interpreter: i wanted to show hearing people that deaf children can do anything. how was it making the film? interpreter: it was hard work, because i have to sometimes film things again and again and again.

i used the sign, "start" but i would say, "action." but things were made a lot easier by the director chris 0verton, who also used to be in hollyoaks. he learned sign language especially so he could communicate with his star. i learned all of her lines, and as much basic sign language as i could. because we wouldn't have a film if i couldn't tell her what to do. now it is the wait for the nominations. i get the feeling maisie is less nervous about next tuesday than you and chris. that's fairly accurate. is that true? interpreter: she says that i think we're going to go to the oscars. laughter. colin paterson, bbc news, swindon. there is lots more on a website

about that in those 0scar nominations, they will find out next week. what's more on our website. if you want to get in touch with us here at bbc world news, you can do so on social media. i'm @bbckasiamadera on twitter. now the weather, with chris fawkes. hello there. yesterday, in scotland, again we had some problems with snow, seems like this fairly commonplace. but in the highlands of scotland, just short of 47 metres of snow lying on the ground. now, the weather this weekend dominated by two areas of low pressure. 0ne here coming in today and another one near the coast of canada will be bringing a spell of heavy rain, hill snow, and eventually a change, the weather. this is how we start off the weekend, though. a band of rain working in the southern and western areas. cold air to the north—east, a risk of ice, and further snow showers affecting scotland. now the main uncertainty is how far north this pulse of sedation gets. it looks likely to move right across ireland, we could see four centimetres of snow for some.

similar is amounts the of high ground of wales, and maybe also north—west midlands for a time. whereas further south it is just for the most part cold rain that will fall, perhaps a little bit of sleep every now and then, but a chilly kind of day. temperatures for most of us between two and five celsius, milder in the south—west. this is bbc news. the headlines: the us federal government is on the verge of being shut down, if the senate doesn't approve new budget measures by midnight local time. president trump has been meeting the democrats' senate leader chuck schumer to discuss ways to avert the crisis. mr trump saidit had been an excellent meeting. russia has denied withdrawing its forces from the syrian region of afrin ahead of an expected turkish attack. turkish media earlier said moscow had started pulling its personnel out of the enclave, which is controlled by kurdish fighters. but the russian foreign minister said these reports had been refuted. pope francis has made his first visit to the amazon on the final leg of his trip to chile and peru.

speaking to thousands of indigenous people on the edge of the rainforest in peru, he said amazon tribes had "never been so threatened", and that they "bore deep wounds". that's it from me. now on bbc news, click. this week, cars, bars and a police riot. —— ride.