welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: preparations for north korea's massive military parade, and pyongyang says there will be no talks with the united states during the olympics. hopelessness in syria, as the human cost of the fighting gets worse again. hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending, and another us government shutdown is averted. and a missing masterpiece, described as the african mona lisa, has been rediscovered in an apartment in north london. the recent apparent thaw in relations between north and south korea looks be taking a backwards step. the north koreans have now said they have no intention of meeting with american delegates

during the winter olympics, and they are also preparing a huge parade of their military prowess. these satellite images from a few days ago show the troops practising — all very much a contrast to the public relations image being projected on the eve of the opening ceremony of the games, which south korea's president has been calling the peace olympics. well, here at pyeongchang, there was hope that it was possible that this high—level delegation from the united states and north korea, given that they're here at the games, might actually sit down and talk to one another. but we've heard from the north korean side that that delegation has, quote, no intention whatsoever of meeting with the us delegation. we're getting this from north korea's official, state—run media, which said in an editorial, we've never

begged for dialogue with the us in the past, and we don't intend to in the future. and all this as the north prepares a massive display of its military might. yes, i mean, just as north korea is about to achieve something of a propaganda coup here at pyeongchang, with its unexpectedly high level of engagement, sending along kim jong—un‘s sister, and the like, the joint hockey team — you know, what would you do to try and counter all that goodwill? how about a big, scary—looking mass military parade, just across the border, to remind everybody of your nuclear weapons ambitions. now, it is thought that possibly they'll try and sort of somehow downplay this military parade, because there's not a lot of representation there from the foreign press corps, for example. but it's hard to get away from the fact that this will be happening, and there will be images going around the world showing this

military parade in north korea, one day before the opening ceremony here at pyeongchang. because it doesn't seem many hours ago that it was hailed as a very positive step that kim jong—un‘s sister would be coming to the games. yes, the fact that, you know, the leader there's sister is coming for the opening ceremony — she'll be the only member of that dynasty to have ever come to south korea, since the end of the war. so it shows an extent to which north korea is trying to achieve something of a diplomatic breakthrough here. and i guess it's also possible to imagine she's in the stadium at the same time as mike pence, i guess they could be going to buy coffee at some stage and bump into one another, who knows? there could be some sort of informal type of dialogue there. but yes, as i was saying, no official talks, though, from the north korean side,

even though kim jong—un‘s sister is going to be here. japan's foreign minister has warned the world must not be taken in by north korea's charm offensive. taro kono also told our tokyo correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes that sanctions are the only way forward, and insisted they are biting. as we've heard from steve there, there's a lot of stuff going on around the opening of the winter olympics tomorrow in south korea. this north korean charm offensive really unleashed on the world a few weeks ago. well, here in japan, i wanted to talk to the japanese foreign minister about the other story that has been happening at the same time, which is reports coming out of the united states that the trump administration may be preparing what has been called a bloody nose — some sort of military action against north korea. and i wanted to find out, given that japan is the base for 50,000 us troops, and any attack on north korea would include japan,

i wanted to ask mr kono, how does japan feel about military action against north korea? for weeks, rumours have been swirling that the trump administration is preparing a military strike against north korea, a so—called bloody nose, to force pyeongyang to the negotiating table. last month, these bz stealth bombers arrived at a us base on the island of guam. but japan's foreign minister, tara kono, told me such speculation should not be taken seriously. a military strike on north korea is far too risky. south korea's capital, seoul, is situated just 30 kilometres from the border. and, if any military action‘s taken, the repercussion is outrageous. so i don't think anyone‘s seriously considering taking a military method.

but, in order to get north korea to come to the dialogue, i think we need to increase the pressure on them. in his new year message, north korean dictator kim jong—un described the latest sanctions against his country as "life—threatening". they include a ban on north korean exports of coal, iron and seafood, and a cut on the import of oil. mr kono says that shows they are starting to work. well, sanctions are biting. now, we have a lot of indications the sanction is actually biting. what do you think is going on, with this sudden rapprochement over the winter olympics? that's one of the indications the sanction is working. they wanted to do something, and they wanted to do a sort of charm offensive to south korea. i think north korea wants, probably,

more, but i don't think the international community are ready to give them anything. on friday, north and south korean athletes will walk side by side, as the winter olympics opens in pyeongchang. but mr kono says the world must not be taken in by pyongyang's charm offensive, or intimidated by its growing missile threat. if they use their missile or nuclear capability, they're going to be no more north korea, and they know it. so they are just making a threat, but they're just sitting in the middle of the sanction, and eventually they'll run out of resources. so you are prepared to play essentially a long game? yes, it is, yes. the sanction is not going to work in days or weeks. it takes months. we just have to be patient, and we just have to be

well co—ordinated, and that's the only way. the alternative is some kind of military action, which no—one wants. now, mike, us vice president mike pence is here at the moment, and he brought a very uncompromising message when he met with mr abe. and he and mr abe will be going together to the opening of the olympic games tomorrow in south korea, and they will be taking that message with them, that the us and its allies need to stick with sanctions, to continue to put extreme pressure on north korea, not to be taken in by this charm offensive that the north has launched around the winter olympics. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: a pakistani court has sentenced one man to death and five others to life in jail for murdering a student falsely accused of blasphemy.

mashal khan was dragged out of his university accommodation in north—west pakistan last april. hundreds of his fellow students beat him, shot him, and mutilated his body. one of the great landmarks of paris, the eiffel tower, has been shut, because a cold snap has blanketed the french capital in six inches of snow. commuters have been trapped in their cars as authorities try to clear the snow. in the uk, the giant supermarket chain tesco is facing the country's largest ever equal pay lawsuit. up to 200,000 shop workers, most of them women, could be due up to $5.5 billion worth of back pay. the shop floor staff have been earning less than men who work in the company's distribution centres, even though they say it is in effect the same job. human rights groups say more than 25 people have died, including at least 12 children, in eastern ghouta, where syrian government forces have carried out more airstrikes. it is one of the last areas still controlled by rebels fighting president assad. the region east of the capital,

damascus, is home to about 400,000 people, but medical supplies and food haven't been allowed in since late last year. quentin sommerville‘s report contains images you may find distressing. syria's war isn't ending. it is getting worse. in eastern ghouta, near damascus, they're overwhelmed. death comes daily from the skies. more than 150 civilians have been killed here this month already. the rescuers have to move fast. here, they follow the sound of a child crying. then they reach for a scrap of cloth, and pull hard, and a boy is removed alive from the rubble. hundreds have been left injured in eastern ghouta, and in the last week, more than a0 children have been killed. yesterday, rescue worker saeed

al—masri was called to an emergency. the baby in his arms is his own. translation: as we were approaching, i realised it was my house that had been hit. i heard a baby's cry, and saw my son was wounded. i went inside and my children had been injured, and my cousins, too. my house was destroyed. three—month—old ibrahim is doing fine, but the family wonders when the next attack will come. regimejets drop unguided bombs. they fall haphazardly, and bring devastation. rebel shelling has killed a dozen people in government areas. there is a new ferocity to the conflict. it should look different here. this is part of a de—escalation

zone, where suffering should be diminishing, but the opposite is happening. here and elsewhere, the conflict is intensifying. basic medical supplies are running low. the region is under siege. but there is also a sense of hopelessness that the world has stopped caring. translation: we are completely drained. the roads are closed and we can't get new supplies. we've stopped believing that anyone will help us. we've given up on the international media and the un. we hoped they would help us, but they've done nothing. east ghouta is nearing exhaustion. at least 31 people were killed today. the bombing has stopped for now, but everyone here knows that this new surge of bloodshed is far from over. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: china shows off its latest surveillance fashion accessory, facial recognition glasses, at the service

of the security forces. there's mr mandela. mr nelson mandela, a free man, taking his first steps into a new south africa. iran's spiritual leader ayatollah khomeini has said he's passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti have flocked to church to give thanks for the ousting of their former president, 'baby doc' duvalier. because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special secure box in the stud farm's central block. shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had brought with them. there stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning.

elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories. head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: north korea is about to hold a massive military parade, saying it has no intention of using the winter olympics to hold talks with american officials. party leaders in the us senate have struck a two—year budget deal that should avoid any repeat of last month's federal government shutdown. but it still needs approval from the house of representatives, and many are questioning a $ 300 billion increase to the bulging federal deficit. democrats also want to use the deal as leverage to bring in immigration reforms. david willis in washington says its not yet a done deal. bipartisan deals are in short supply, they have been at least,

here in washington, dc. some may say that you should count your lucky chances and see what happens. there is a major road block looming for all of this, no question about that, in the house of representatives because the leader of the democrats in the house, nancy pelosi, who spoke for over eight hours today without so much as a break but for a couple of glasses of water, she wants the same sort of agreement from the majority leader in the house, paul ryan, that the democrat leader in the senate managed to wrangle out of the majority leader there, mitch mcconnell. in other words, a commitment to discuss the plight of the so—called dreamers — nearly 2 million people who were brought here illegally through no fault of their own and whose deportation

is potentially looming. now unless that sort of agreement is forthcoming from paul ryan in the house, then nancy pelosi has said that she is minded to advocate to her caucus to vote against this budget measure. so with just over 2a hours to go until the deadline, nothing here is certain. how many times have we heard that before? and even if it does go through, the deficit balloons by the tax cuts. absolutely. this is $300 billion more on spending for such things as defence, infrastructure, disaster relief, even coping with the opioid crisis here. certain conservatives have described this as fiscal madness, bearing in mind that the total deficit next year is calculated to top around $1 trillion. so there are those opponents as well in the house of representatives, meaning that potentially paul ryan is going to need the support of democrats in their vote. if he is to get this spending measure through. david willis. the australian prime minister has said he will ensure a national apology to survivors of child abuse. a royal commission into

the treatment of thousands of children who were abused in the care of churches, schools, and homes across australia called it a national tragedy. malcolm turnbull‘s announcement has put pressure on state government and religious institutions that have not signed up a scheme to give compensation to the victims. the two biggest political parties in germany have agreed a coalition deal. angela merkel‘s conservatives and the centre—left social democrats have decided which government departments each party will run, ending months of stalemate after inconclusive elections in september. but as andrew plant reports, the deal will still need to be approved. marathon talks that began on tuesday and continued through the night to try to end over four months of stalemate at the top of europe's largest economy. the chancellor has reached a deal tojoin forces in a ruling coalition. translation: i am convinced that the coalition contract we have worked out can lay down the foundations for the stable government that our country needs and that many in the world are waiting to see.

it has been called a marriage of convenience but the deals made to meet a coalition bring criticism from both sides who feel their core values have been compromised too far. so what could the new coalition look like? the sdp, thejunior partner could control crucial ministries including finance and foreign affairs. martin schulz, the leader of the sdp and former leader of the european parliament would step down and become the german foreign minister. translation: we are optimistic that we will step for our party members with such a good proposal that we can convince a large majority to allow us to enter such a coalition. the implications of that are widespread on major issues in germany like migration and workers‘ rights, but also on the brexit negotiations as chancellor merkel looks set to enter her fourth term weaker than before. the deal is not yet done. martin schulz has promised his members a vote on the results

will not be in until the second of march. police in china have started using sunglasses featuring facial recognition technology. the glasses are linked to an internal database of suspects and allow officers to scan the crowds looking for suspects. the state says that the glasses have already helped police to catch seven individuals but there are fears that they could be used to track and profile political dissidents and ethnic minorities. for more on this i'm joined from beijing byjosh chin, a reporterfor the wall streetjournal. you have written extensively about this. it looks a bit matrix, it is quite a bit 1984. right. there are a

number of movies all works of fiction you could compare this to. it certainly takes surveillance kit to the next level. china has a massive surveillance state already. there is some doubt about the a ccu ra cy there is some doubt about the a ccu ra cy of there is some doubt about the accuracy of these, isn't there?m is one of the concerns about this equipment. on the one hand they solve a problem of facial recognition, which is they are very fast. with current or previous systems sometimes the system would recognise someone systems sometimes the system would recognise someone but by the time the police got there it was too late, the person had escaped. with this you don't have that problem. you have the problem of facial recognition systems sometimes miss identifying people. you can imagine in the moment a police officer misidentified as a terror suspect someone misidentified as a terror suspect someone who is dangerous, that could

have severe consequences. there is no way for a chinese citizen to challenge any obvious or find out what the authorities are doing with the information. that is a very good point. right now there is some scope for, there are laws in china that allow citizens to check what sort of information companies are collecting about them, but in terms of what the government is doing with that information and how they are using their biometric data there does not simply much recourse. governments are learning from each on this. when we we re are learning from each on this. when we were talking about this earlier, there are already 5 million cctv cameras in the uk. the uk has one of the highest concentration of cameras per capita, particularly in london. and china is becoming, china is a paneer in these technologies ——

pioneer. the ceo said they have ambitions of going overseas and will consider selling to law enforcement agencies in other countries to bite thank you very much indeed. you're welcome. let's head to germany now, and an unusual musical event that started in frankfurt. a special plane, operated by the european space agency, took a group of djs and their fans up into the sky for a set in zero gravity. the bbc‘s tim allman takes up the story. studio 54 and the ministry of sound have nothing on this. and airbus a free ten called zero g. dozens of people from around the world, given the chance to get high, very high, and notan the chance to get high, very high, and not an illegal substance inside. taking off for a whole new experience. music plays usually the

testing ground for astronauts, zerog instead became the most exclusive and unusual nightclub in the world. #we and unusual nightclub in the world. # we kicked terminus. a heavy beat, but the lightest of party—goers. for 90 minutes they danced, or they try to games, they floated, they spun. what goes up must come down, but this was one high altitude brave that blew people's minds. this was one high altitude brave that blew people's mindsm this was one high altitude brave that blew people's minds. it was insane. it was so crazy. just floating upside down. and then steve

aoki was doing flips. it was just insane. it was like all your emotions at maximum level. it was hilarious. i am so thankful. now i wa nt hilarious. i am so thankful. now i want to do it again and again and again. for everyone involved, this was a unique gig, unlikely to be repeated. they say music can lift the soul, this went a loss further than that. —— a lot further. now you'd be hard pressed to forget this moment from bbc news last year professor robert kelly was in the middle of a live interview with the bbc from his home in south korea when his two children burst into his office. they were followed shortly after by his wife who tried to do a bit of damage limitation. professor kelly's in london for the broadcast tv awards, and he's just won the best tv moment of the year pictured here with our colleague james menendez who was of course presenting at the time. he said there is a lock on the door.

if when you hear him being interviewed now, he said that is because the children are banging on the door trying to get him. , if he has been particularly loud. thank you for watching. hello there. for many places, the day ahead will bring a slightly different feel to the weather. something just a little bit milder. many starting the day under cold air. but this wedge of mild air in the atlantic beginning to show its hand. this is tied up with a weather system in the atlantic. you can see the cloud here is going to bring some outbreaks of rain as we go on through the day. a split in temperatures in the morning. as much as —5, —6, in the south—east.

temperatures generally above freezing for northern ireland and northern scotland. this is sam. the coldest weather in east anglia and the south—east, but the brightest weather. a lot of sunshine to come. the south—west, wales, northern england, thick clouds, outbreaks of mostly light and patchy rain at this stage. a lot of cloud into southern scotland. but for northern ireland, northern scotland, something more bright. sunny spells returning. a rash of showers to the north—west. because of the slightly milder air, most showers falling as rain rather than anything more wintry. now, as we go on through the day, we take this band of cloud and rain further south and east. do you see the deep blue colours? that indicates the rain will turn more heavy for wales and northern england during the afternoon. clouding over in the south—east after the bright start. remaining chilly here. scotland, northern ireland, sunshine and a few showers. temperatures getting up to 7—8 degrees. thursday night, we push this band of at this stage quite

heavy rain eastwards. showers too, wintry showers. as we get into friday, the air will be turning more cold. temperatures dipping away. seven in cardiff. some rain, sleet, and snow perhaps in the south—east for a time. some wintry showers elsewhere. generally speaking, high pressure with us for the very start of the weekend. a cold and frosty start to saturday. another frontal system. perhaps a spell of snow in the north. then some rain. then the second half of the weekend, you guessed it, back in the cold air. things are very much up and down through the coming days. this is the weekend. often it will be windy. rain at times on saturday. something more bright and cold for most on sunday. there could be double—digit temperatures in places. but with some outbreaks of rain, on sunday, it will feel colder, but it should be brighter.

the latest headlines from bbc news: north korea's leadership has declared it has no intention of using the winter olympics in south korea as a chance to talk with the united states. senior officials from pyongyang will be there, the us vice president too. and just before the opening of the so—called peace olympics, the north will be holding a massive military parade. human rights groups say more than 25 people have died, including at least 12 children, in eastern ghouta, where the syrian government has carried out more airstrikes. the area is home to about 400,000 people. it's one of the last areas still controlled by rebels fighting president assad. party leaders in the us senate have struck a two year budget deal that should avoid any repeat of last month's federal government shutdown. but it still needs approval from the house of representatives, and many are questioning a $300 billion increase to the federal deficit. it has just

it hasjust gone it has just gone half—past three