welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: the us federal government faces a financial shutdown at midnight as politicians in washington fail to back plans to authorise a spending bill. president trump says hopes of making a deal "are not looking good" and claims the democrats want a shutdown. a new front in the conflict in syria, but this time it's turkey opening fire on kurdish forces. facing up to his crimes — we hearfrom more gymnasts who survived sexual abuse by the former team usa doctor, larry nassar. hopes and fears for peru — pope francis speaks about the future for the future of the amazon and its people. hello.

within the past half hour the us senate has voted down a spending bill and a government shutdown looks very likely. senators failed to back a stopgap motion which would temporarily keep government departments going for another four weeks. so now, unless a compromise can be found in the next hour, many parts of us government will shut down, although essential services including national security and air traffic control will continue. let's go live to washington now and our correspondent, david willis. david, time is pretty much up? yes. dramatic events unfolding here in the nation's capital right now. the vote has been projected in the

senate. the republicans, who tabled that financial extension, failing to get the support they needed, the additional support, from democrats in the upper house, having passed this bill in the lower house last night, thursday night, here. so u nless night, thursday night, here. so unless some sort of compromise is reached within the next... what, less tha n reached within the next... what, less than an hour, 55 minutes or so, there will be a government shut down here. it is an embarrassment, a considerable embarrassment, for the president donald trump, a man who has long branded himself the ultimate dealmaker. he met for over one hour with the senate minority leader chuck schumer today, but although initial signs seem promising, the two men clearly failed to reach an agreement to keep the federal government ticking over. and so it will shut down. the irony

of this and the embarrassment of this being that first day of this shut down will be on the same day that marks the first anniversary of donald trump's inauguration. the timing is quite something. so, what exactly will happen in less than an hour? what are americans going to notice over the weekend? well, on monday and possibly as early as this weekend the federal government workers will get, some of them anyway, instructions to stay at home on monday. they will be furloughed and of course if this goes on their pay could be affected as well. essential services, prisons, the white house, the pentagon, for example, will continue to function, so example, will continue to function, so will troops continue to be deployed, those two are deployed overseas. but this will have

implications belong to it goes on. the last shut down of any size was backin the last shut down of any size was back in 2013 and 800 thousand government workers were furloughed over the course of 16 days. it's not going to do much for americans' faith in their representatives. where do you see blame falling in the coming weeks and months, if this does go to a prolonged shutdown? well, there was a poll conducted for the washington post which suggested that the blame for this from most americans would go to the republicans in congress and to the president himself, but this doesn't bring particularly good news to either party, the democrats or the republicans, ahead of the mid—term elections. neither wants to be seen

to be bringing the government to its knees financially, if you like, with those all—importa nt seats knees financially, if you like, with those all—important seats up for grabs in november. it is an embarrassment for donald trump because he has, as i mentioned, branded himself as a dealmaker and the fact that he met for more than one hour with chuck schumer at the white house one—on—one today, we heard john kelly, the chief of staff, was the only other person present, but yet still failed to convince chuck schumer to drop the specification that the bill also includes some sort of mention of the so—called dreamers, the 800,000 people in this country illegally whose right to remain expires in just a few weeks' time. a night of drama in washington. thank you very much. while the battle over the us government budget has been rumbling on, there's also been a significant announcement about a change in america's military policy.

defence secretary james mattis says that instead of a past focus on terrorism, us national security is now making competing with great powers like china and russia a priority. 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, 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. china and russia have slammed the

changes. russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov said the us was striving to prove its global leadership through confrontation. beijing accused washington of having a cold war mentality. turkey has begun a new intervention in the conflict in syria by launching an offensive against kurdish—held territory near its border. ankara, which has long fought kurdish separatists within its own country, is now shelling kurdish militia in the afrin region. it's threatening an all out ground offensive. from inside syria, our chief international correspondent lyse doucet reports. warning shots across the border. the target isn't really syria, it's the kurdish militia now controlling the land all too close to turkey. tanks and troops are also moving into position, the de facto start of a ground invasion — that's what turkey's defence minister calls this. its sights are set on afrin. syria's kurds have been in charge

for the last five years. they are vowing to keep it. "we will fight to the last drop of blood," they declare. "we will stand with afrin." turkey calls them terrorists, linked to its main enemy at home, the turkish kurds in the pkk. all this is opening up another major crisis inside syria's already tangled war. just to the south, the syrian army is pushing ahead with its own offensive to retake ground held by hardline islamists. as fighting intensifies, so too the humanitarian crisis. 200,000 people are now on the run, heading north, adding to pressure on turkey's border. these two are among them.

translation: i got the kids and put them in the car and we were off. we came here with nothing. in some places, they can't run away. there were more air strikes today in east ghouta, a besieged area on the edge of damascus under rebel control. thousands are now living in basements. this baby's life begins underground. translation: this child is only 20 hours old, born in the bombardment and destruction. the siege here in ghouta. no—one can see our suffering. all the children here have known nothing but war. they have to make the most of it. they have no inkling of the complexities of this conflict, but they live with its cost every day. 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 0lympic gymnastics team. but four of these young women were hiding a dark secret. today, team captain aly raisman was the latest to share her story. you are so sick. i can't even comprehend how angry i feel when i think of you. you lied to me and manipulated me to think that when you treated me, you were closing your eyes because you had been working hard

when you were really touching me, an innocent child, to pleasure yourself. seen here at the london 2012 games, aly was just 18 years old when 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 jordyn wieber also shared her story in court today. 0ur bodies were all hanging by a thread when we were in london. who was the doctor that usag 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 larry nassar, 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. a champion athlete who competed for the state of michigan, gwen is seen here at the age of 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 that 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. i had zero idea. we had the utmost trust for that man and that's where we all 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 the chance to — 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 nassar in court will be given the chance to. rajini vaidynathan, bbc news, lansing, michigan. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: the colombian authorities say that 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. migration officials said more than 550,000 venezuela ns are now living in colombia, mostly illegally. ajury in canada has returned not

guilty verdicts for three men who were charged with criminal negligence following the lac—megantic rail disaster in 2013. 47 people died when a train carrying nearly eight million litres of shale oil came off the rails and exploded. the three former railway workers had been accused of leaving the train unattended, and allowing it to roll away without any control. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: looking for hope — pope francis speaks about the future for the people of peru. the people of saigon have just heard that, at last, there is to be a ceasefire. the reaction of american servicemen was predictable. i'm going home. demonstrators waiting

for mike getting and his rebel cricket team were attacked with tear gas and set upon by police dogs. anti—apartheid campaigners say they will carry on the protests throughout tour. they called him the butcher of lyon. klaus altmann is being held on a fraud charge in bolivia. but the west germans want to extradite him for crimes committed in wartime france. there, he was the gestapo chief klaus barbie. millions came to bathe a close as possible at this spot, a tide of humanity that is believed by officials to have broken all records. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the us federal government faces a financial shutdown at midnight.

president trump has blamed democrats for failing to back plans to authorise a spending bill. turkey intensifies its shelling of a kurdish militia in northern syria, ahead of a threatened ground offensive. pope francis has visited a remote rainforest region in peru to sound .: 14.7.1, .,.,..,.~,_,:._.._. 5l"... 4