this is bbc news. the headlines at midday: the us national government shuts down after senators fail to agree on spending a year to the day after president trump's inauguration. what we have just witnessed on the floor is a cynical decision by senate democrats. the blame should crash entirely on president trump's shoulders. british tourists injamaica's montego bay are warned to stay in their resorts, as violence on the streets prompts a state of emergency. britain to get bespoke trade deal with the eu says president macron. in return, it would have to abide by single market rules. also: donkey—assisted therapy for people and have cancer. for people who have cancer. the calming presence of the animals at a belfast donkey sanctuary, making a difference to patients through theirjourney

of cancer treatment. and how predictive analytics can help in emergencies. that's all in click, in half an hour here on bbc news. good morning and welcome to bbc news. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. many federal government services across the united states have shut down after politicians in washington failed to pass a spending bill. hundreds of thousands of workers employed by federal agencies are being sent home until a compromise can be found. however, essential services including national security and air traffic control will continue. the last government shutdown in 2013 lasted 16 days. sarah corker reports. it's a government shutdown nobody wanted.

it went to the wire but there was no last—minute deal. as democrats rallied on capitol hill, inside the senate, republican leaders couldn't secure enough votes to pass a spending bill to extend the funding of federal agencies. on this vote, the ayes are 50, nays are 49. the motion is not agreed. three fifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted in the affirmative, the motion is not agreed to. now the trump administration faces an embarrassing shutdown. what we have just witnessed on the floor was a cynical decision by senate democrats to shove aside millions of americans for the sake of irresponsible political games. the government shutdown was 100% avoidable. president trump, if you are listening, i am urging you, please take yes for an answer. the way things went today, the way you turned from a bipartisan deal, it's almost as if you were rooting

for a shutdown. at the centre of all of this, a row over immigration and the so—called dreamers. democrats had demanded the bill included protection from deportation for 700,000 young, undocumented immigrants who came to the us as children. after the senate vote, the white house released this strongly worded statement: the last government shutdown was in 2013 and lasted 16 days. it means federal offices and services will close and thousands of staff placed on temporary unpaid leave as early as monday. military operations, though, will continue. republicans and democrats have traded blame for this crisis.

neither side wants to be held accountable for closing the government, but a financial shutdown begins on the first anniversary of donald trump's inauguration as president. a short time ago i spoke to mallory factor, a republican commentator and academic. he told me how the government shutdown could do more harm to the democrats. well, i brought a little quote with me here. a democrat who is up for election characterised the shutdown as people running for president while trying to find their bases. she went on to say that if they believe they sell out the dreamers, this is a quote, "hispanic voters might be less energised to turn out in 2018." this is all about 2018. because there are mid—term elections, 3a senate seats and all the house seats are up.

3a senate seats, and eight of them are republican seats. 26 are independent and democrat. so it is in a sense a tough election for the democrats in terms of numbers, but coming halfway through the president's first term. the governing party often gets a bit ofa the governing party often gets a bit of a kicking. an interesting thing about this shutdown, it is happening when the republicans are in theory in charge of the white house, senate and house. that is not true, because you need 60 votes in the house. the republicans only have 51. but five of them went and voted with the democrats, and five democrats voted with the republicans. it didn't matter. that still was not 60. but you could still have got the majority, you are saying you could not have overridden them? that is the problem. it is a 60—vote

majority that it takes. nonetheless, for all that detail, is that how it will be perceived by american voters? some other polls, just before the shutdown were saying that actually, the majority appear to put the blame, as chuck schumer, the minority democrat leader in the senate did overnight, on the president's shoulders. 0bviously, schumer is going to try to put it on the president's shoulders, and the president is going to try to put it on the democrats. trump is calling it the schumer shutdown, and schumer is calling it the trump shutdown. i think that's pretty much open. what is important to know is, all the essential services will continue. but i have a question that i am trying to deal with. why is the government doing nonessential services to begin with? that is a question they will have to answer when they all wake up in the morning with a bit of a hangover, i should think! not drinking, but they did not get enough sleep, i would think. you raise the question of the dreamers, these people who came to the united states,

their parents probably came illegally, they did not have documentation and have now grown up. president 0bama effectively gave them a hail mary pass, saying they wanted to give them the opportunity to stay here and live the american dream, hence the phrase dreamers. president trump ended that. is that not a consequence of this decision? not to disagree with you, but he has not ended it. it will continue on until march 7th, so there is still plenty of time. but his intention is to finish that. his intention is to do something else. i don't know what that is. no, he has not told anybody. but it has not expired yet. this is a political play on both sides. but he can't afford to lose the hispanic vote any more than the democrats, can he? people like jeb bush, when he was running for the nomination, said the hispanic vote was the future. people like you, with great respect, a white anglo—saxon protestant, what they used to call wasps,

are to become more of a minority in the future. you're absolutely right. but he got quite a bit of the hispanic vote, and more of the women vote than was expected. but if the senator you quoted was right and the hispanic vote less likely to turn out for democrats if they have failed to protect the dreamers, well, if the president is getting the blame for that, wouldn't they be less likely to vote for his republicans? right, but they are losing some of their core constituencies in the battleground states, that union worker, that middle—class person. there is a famous political consultant called pat cordell, the consultant of the presidential candidate geroge mcgovern and candidate george mcgovern and the presidentjimmy carter.

he is a tried and true democrat and says he will always be a democrat. however, he says the democratic party has left him. that is what ronald reagan used to say. that is exactly correct. and you think that is happening again? it is happening again for a segment, and if the democrats are going to win in two and three quarters years from now, the presidency, which i don't think they will, they will have to get that group. but right now, it is trying to see who can be as far left as possible, and they want to go to the left of corbyn here, and you are seeing bernie sanders, elizabeth warren, i could go on and on. let me ask you finally, briefly, have we not been overshadowed by the shutdown, i'm sure would be talking i'm sure we would be overshadowed by the shutdown, i'm sure we would be talking mostly about an assessment of trump's first year. in summary, how do

you think he has done? he has offended an enormous amount of people. he has gotten a lot of people very angry at him, but he has passed and signed an enormous amount of legislation, and that is what he's going to be judged by ultimately. people say he is not presidential. the point is, he is the president, maybe presidential is changing under him. i will give you a quick few things i will rattle off. the arctic national wildlife reserve drilling, keystone pipeline, paris agreement, which he is getting us out of. nafta, transpacific partnership, and 19 judges confirmed to the appeals court where 0bama and bush had, like, three and five. that is huge. a lot of people don't like what he did, that is the problem. elections have consequences. president mallory factor talking to

me earlier. let's see what president trump has been saying. he tweeted earlier when the argument was going on in the senate, and i guess then he went to bed. he was bright and early up, because he tweeted quite a long time ago now, in the early hours of the morning, saying: that ys byty that ysbyty gwynedd what he was saying on friday night. he adds: and as mallory factor said there, it seems as though the blame game will continue all weekend. it seems the democrats will be blamed by the president, and as you heard, chuck schumer, the democrat minority leader in the senate, said it is all in president trump's shoulders. that is perhaps one for the voters to decide on. mid—term elections in december, the president

—— presidential election in two and three quarters years. mitch mcconnell, the senate republican leader, has suggested he will bring back a bill very soon to see if they can overcome the shutdown. the last one in 2013 mastered 16 days. mary lou mcdonald has been confirmed as the only candidate nominated to replace gerry adams as sinn fein president. she will be formally elected as the party president at a special conference next month. mr adams is retiring after leading the republican party for three and a half decades. following this from belfast is our correspondent kevin sharkey. kevin, tell us a bit about her first. with the words, "please welcome the president—elect of sinn fein", gerry adams effectively ushered in a new era of leadership for his party this morning. i suppose in a way the

tectonic plates shifting here in the sinn fein leadership. if you think of who is going out and who is coming in, the difference is quite stark. gerry adams, for example, he is from belfast, from northern ireland, and emerged from the turbulence history here in northern ireland. he led sinn fein two years of violence, through to the years of peace, and on the other hand, marylou mcdonald, coming in now to replace him, she is from dublin in the republic of ireland. she went to a fee—paying public school. she lives in a middle—class suburb in dublin, and of course, she is a woman, and she will now be the new face of sinn fein, not only here on the island of ireland, but on the international stage as well. and of course, gerry adams has been a problem figure. 0ne thinks internationally of his many visits to the united states. —— a prominent

figure. he was welcomed in washington. he is a huge figure. whatever you think of his career in the controversy surrounding him, it is a tough act to follow, isn't it? no doubt about it. whatever way you look at it, gerry adams is a substantial political figure, not gerry adams is a substantial politicalfigure, not only here in these parts, but as easily, on the global stage stop the fact that he has remained leader of sinn fein for 35 years speaks to that. mary lou mcdonald is coming in now and she will represent the new face of sinn fein, and she does not have any of the baggage that gerry adams would have had, being leader of the party, and lead the rich and famous during this turbulent, troubled years. —— leader of sinn fein. mary lou mcdonald is in some ways regarded as having a clean pair of political heels. she has been a parliamentarian, a member of the european parliament in the first insta nce european parliament in the first instance but sinn fein, and then she was elected to the irish parliament,

where she is a very prominent and well—regarded speaker. she is a tough parliamentarian. depending on who you speak to, some people say she is a forceful contributor, some say she is gutsy, and others say she isa say she is gutsy, and others say she is a conviction politician and that she is known to interrogate issues of political import in the irish parliament with a forensic eye, both on committees and in the parliament itself. so she is the new broom, if you like, sinn fein. the party will present her as it leadership figure, in the republic, but also as far as northern ireland as concerned as well. the party has its own local leader here in northern ireland, michelle 0'neill, but as president of the party, mary lou mcdonald will be the overarching figure in ireland but also on the global stage. thank you very much. british tourists injamaica are being advised not to leave their resorts unsupervised,

after a state of emergency was declared in the area around the montego bay. it's one of the island's most popular tourist destinations but there's been a recent rise in violent crime. nick davis reports. for a country that depends on tourism, the pictures of troops on the streets in montego bay, jamaica's biggest resort, isn't ideal, but the government says it is something that needs to be done. the security forces are expected and have been directed to treat citizens with respect and protect the dignity and safety of all. most of the tourists who visit montego bay and much of the north coast stay in gated or guarded all—inclusive hotels where security isn't an issue. but crime in the city has spiked. last year saw over 1,600 people murdered in jamaica. 335 of them in stjames, the area where montego bay is. most of the crime is gang—related and focused in a small number of communities.

the foreign office has advised holidaymakers that they should only travel to and from the airport to their hotels and when they do take excursions, to make sure they are arranged by official tour reps. the authorities say there will be more roadblocks and vehicle searches as they go after the gangs and their guns. a similar state of emergency in 2010, in kingston, saw the murder rate drop to its lowest levels in years, a statistic that meant lives saved. in montego bay it's hoped the same will happen again. police in sheffield are appealing for information to help find two children who have been missing since last night. 13—year—old marcela menyhartova, and marcel menyha rt, who's 12, were last seen at an ice skating arena near the suburb of attercliffe at around eight o'clock yesterday evening. police are asking anyone with information to call south yorkshire police on 101. take a good look at those two young

people. if you think you might have seen them, or if there is any information you can give south yorkshire police, the nonemergency number you can call is 11. —— 101. the headlines on bbc news: many government services in america shutdown and politicians fail to pass a spending bill. essential services such as national security and air traffic control will continue. mary lou mcdonald has been confirmed as the only candidate nominated to replace gerry adams as president of sinn fein. british tourist injamaica are being advised not to leave their resorts and supervised after a recent increase in violence on the streets has led to an emergency being declared in the parish around montego bay. the french president has suggested the uk could get a bespoke trade deal with the european union after brexit, but again warned that

britain would not have full access to the single market unless it accepted its rules. in an interview to be broadcast in full on the andrew marr show tomorrow, emmanuel macron said he respected, but regretted, the brexit vote, but the eu would love to welcome the uk back. ...bespoke special solution for britain? sure, but i take these two references, because this special way should be consistent with the preservation of the single market and our collective interests. you should understand that you cannot, by definition, have full access to the single market if you don't tick the box. and to get full access to the single market you need contribution to the budget and you have to accept... the freedoms. ..the freedoms and the four pillars and you have to accept the jurisdiction. as soon as you decide not to join these preconditions it's not a full access.

so it's something perhaps between this full access and a trade agreement. emmanuelle macron talking to andrew marr. the full interview is between nine and 10am tomorrow on bbc one. 0ur political correspondent emma vardy has been explaining whether president macron is offering anything realistic for the uk. imean, he i mean, he was echoing their the warnings that the eu 27 have already given us, that yes, if you want full access to the single market, you have to abide by those rules, freedom of movement, the jurisdiction of the eu court of justice, and those are the red lions theresa may has a ready set out, saying when we leave, we are ready leaving the single market, and so leaving the single market, and so leaving the single market, and so leaving the rest of the eu, follows that. so in a way, he is negotiating the red lions we have already seen, but i think what we can take from

this is, yes, macron were supportive of britain getting this bespoke trade deal, something theresa may has said we want and we leave the eu. it means will not be forced into accepting an off—the—shelf feel like the one in canada has, just replicating that, but ours will be different. theresa may once hours to go much further. the tension will like and just how much compromise will be made and how difficult the glaciations are going to be to make that bespoke deal the way that theresa may hopes it will be. given that angela merkel has been rather distracted in the last couple of months and trying to forge a new coalition government in germany to avoid another election, in a sense, i suppose president temp macro is the man everyone is watching in terms of the european leaders. he is at the moment, perhaps in a position to exercise the most influence on the commission who do the negotiations and what they are prepared to sign up to. exactly, and thatis prepared to sign up to. exactly, and that is why we scrutinise his words very carefully. france, president

macron, is now going to be a big player in the european union, and what he says will matter. it will be influential in terms of how other countries see the brexit negotiations going. so everyone is trying to gauge whether france will be on our side, whether they will be favourable to what britain once in the brexit negotiations. it is pretty clear there that we have seen britain and france affirm their connection to each other in terms of allies and neighbours, but it is also very clear president temp back i’ow also very clear president temp back row is absolutely united with the collective position of the other eu countries, and that britain is not going to get any sort of very favourable treatment in perhaps the way some people might have hoped. how do downing street think his trip has gone down overall? if you look in the areas he was there to discuss, like defence and security, there are lots of positives downing street will take from that. they will say, actually, this shows britain can continue to have bilateral meetings with countries and establish our own deals in terms

of how we discuss our border arrangements with calais and the checks they go on there. they say that actually shows this is com pletely that actually shows this is completely separate to the overall brexit deal, but of course, the backdrop to all of this is what the situation for britain will be like after brexit. and it is still taking from what president macron says not com pletely from what president macron says not completely clear. emma vardy there. church bells and music venues in britain are to be offered extra protection against people attempting to silence them. the government is changing planning guidance so that long—standing community facilities and have to make expensive changes because of complaints from new neighbours. instead, housing developers will be responsible for addressing any noise issues during construction. joining me now via webcam is caroline stockmann, from the central council of church bell ringers. shejoins us now she joins us now from shejoins us now from sevenoaks. thank you very much for being with us, caroline. good afternoon to you. you must be delighted by this news?

yes, it is very, very welcome news, so we are very pleased. how much of a problem has this been in the recent past? you occasionally get issues where somebody moves into the area, and for one reason or another, hasn't expected there will be bells ringing ora expected there will be bells ringing or a clock chiming, which is often the issue. so it does happen occasionally. i would say the majority of people do like bells, they just don't like them majority of people do like bells, theyjust don't like them when they ring for too long, so they are quite sensitive to that, and we try to keep the ringing to reasonable levels, and if we are going to do what we call a long length, everyone in the neighbourhood will be warned ahead of time. i am intrigued. how long is a long length? usually, it is longer than a peal, but i think most people would call a peal long, and that is three hours. soak a peal is three hours, and a long length is

longer?! people tend to practice, they ring for sunday service. there will be a quarter peal, around 45 minutes, and then a peal. but they are not so common impaired to normal ringing, for sunday service. you love the sound of church bells, and i grew love the sound of church bells, and igrew up love the sound of church bells, and i grew up in a village, so do i. do you understand that perhaps given the way that people now live their lives, there are times, particularly at night, when they may not be very welcome? absolutely understand that. iam welcome? absolutely understand that. i am slightly biased, because i chose to live in a house called hell house, right next to a tower, and i was interested in the bells, and that's what started me learning. —— hell house. soido —— bell house. so i do appreciate it when there is a noise that is the body not appreciate in the

background, but we do not ring at unusual times a night. what can happen as the clock chimes during the night, and that is often a source of complaint. many people just ignore it. some one i was talking to this morning lives next toa talking to this morning lives next to a church, and she does not even hear the clock chiming. but some people are particularly sensitive and never get used to it.|j people are particularly sensitive and never get used to it. i suppose, as you say, ultimately, these sensitivities are important to manage arguably locally. it is all fine to have a national planning guidance, but in truth, isn't this more about relations between neighbours? i think there is a lot of truth in that view. it is about community, isn't it? we would like to feel we are part of the community, part of the british soundscape, having bells ring at appropriate moments. this year is a really important year for us because

we have 100 years since armistice day, when we lost 11100 ring errors during the first world war. so we are recruiting 11100 more. —— ringers. if people are registered, they can come up to tower and have a go themselves, maybe they will get hooked and not minded so much. you never know. that is a fascinating suggestion. i hope it will take you up suggestion. i hope it will take you up on that. always under supervision, of course! thank you so much forjoining us and enlightening us as much forjoining us and enlightening us as to those phrases. what was it ain? us as to those phrases. what was it again? the peal can be 45 minutes? the quarter peal is 45 minutes, a peal is three hours, and that new year, we ringing the changes, which is where that expression comes from. lovely. thank you rematch. something everyday on this channel! pope francis has used a visit to peru to sound a stark warning about the future of the amazon and its indigenous people.

he told the people of puerto maldonado that the region had never been so threatened by businesses keen to exploit it for oil, gas, food and gold. tribal elders called on him to help protect them from being driven from their lands. virginia langeberg reports. pope francis arrived in puerto maldonado, on the edges of the amazon rainforest, to a resoundingly warm reception, from those perhaps too young to fathom the scale of the issues their communities face. the pontiff was notjust a guest for these amazonian tribes, but a powerful mouthpiece for their plight, protecting the land they see slipping away from them. this once—tranquil part of the world has fallen victim to an illegal gold rush which has spawned a billion—dollar black market that is destroying their habitats and has seen the introduction of human trafficking and violent criminal networks. translation: the native amazonian people have probably never been so threatened as they are at present.

the amazon is a territory that is being disputed on many fronts. translation: i have a feeling of peace and tranquillity. he has comforted us with his soft words, telling us, you can change this world and continue with our customs and traditions. pope francis then travelled to peru's capital, lima, but was forced to switch vehicles in the middle of the motorway after the car suffered a flat tyre. the amazon will now be the focus of a world bishops' meeting taking place in october next year. let's now look at the sporting prospects for the weekend. a full round—up with mike. novak djokovic is safely through to the next round of the australian open, but there are concerns about

his fitness. he needed medical treatment in the second round with what appeared to be a problem with his lower back or leg. he won in straight sets, but was not at his best. this is his first event since wimbledon. his next opponent is chung hyeon, who's become the first south korean man to reach the last 16 in melbourne. he knocked out the fourth seed alexander zverev in five sets, to get there. defending champion roger federer is also into the last 16, beating richard gasquet in straight sets. the world number two and five—time winner in melbourne has yet to drop a set so far in this year's tournament. it is looking ominous. the match between two former winners was rather one—sided, with angelique kerber knocking out maria sharapova. kerber won in straight sets and she's now the only grand slam champion left in the women's draw. there was huge relief for world number one simona halep, who survived an epic battle, with the unseeded american lauren