and are planning a march on washington. president trump has signalled he is now "supportive" of improved background checks for people buying guns, in the wake of the florida school shooting that killed 17 students and staff. the turkish government has said it will confront syrian forces if they enter the north western district of afrin, to help the kurdish ypg militia repel a turkish offensive. turkey regards the kurdish fighters, just across its southern border, as terrorists. a british university lecturer, described by american officials as the worst child exploitation offender they've found on the internet, has been jailed for 32 years. matthew falder blackmailed victims around the world into sending photographs of themselves carrying out degrading acts, sharing the images on the so—called dark web. the former football coach, barry bennell, has been described as the "devil incarnate" by a judge at liverpool crown court who jailed him for 30 years for abusing young footballers between 1979 and 1991.

the former crewe alexandra coach and manchester city scout was convicted of 50 child sexual offences, as our sports editor dan roan reports. they came seeking closure — the victims of barry bennell, accompanied by their families, arriving at court for the sentencing of british sport's most notorious paedophile. their abuser, meanwhile, arriving by a different entrance after being found guilty of 50 counts of child sex crimes. having appeared throughout his trial via videolink due to ill health, today bennell was here in person as he was handed a 31—year prison sentence. the 64—year—old impassive as he sat staring at the floor in the dock as his punishment was read out. inside court, the cries of "yes" from the public gallery were hushed. outside, the emotion able to flow. today, we looked evil in the face and we smiled because, barry bennell, we have won. today, we hand our shame and our guilt and our sadness

back to you. it should never have been ours to carry in the first place. the care and diligence he took in grooming the victims and their families is amongst the most manipulative behaviour ever seen. sentencing bennell, judge clement goldston told him, "to these boys, you appeared as a god. in reality, you were the devil incarnate. you stole their childhoods and their innocence to satisfy your perversion." his abuse, the judge said, was sheer evil. several of the former football coach's numerous victims read out impact statements in court. among them, gary cliffe, abused by bennell when he played for a manchester city junior team. in a bid to force bennell to make eye contact, cliffe approached the dock after his statement, asking, "why, barry, why?" before being led away by an official. what was that experience like for you? i was churned up inside, dan, but i was determined that this was my moment, i didn't want to regret not doing it. so i stood up there, you were in court, you saw it, i said those words directed towards him. another 86 people have made

complaints against the former manchester city and crewe alexandra youth team coach. and amid hundreds of allegations against other suspects, both are among the clubs braced for civil lawsuits. the ramifications of british football's gravest crisis are farfrom over. dan roan, bbc news, liverpool. now it's time for the travel show. this week on the travel show... seeing africa by train. we witnessed seven lions that were chasing a zebra. it was like a movie! and this was real. the history of selfies, lol. selfies have a very interesting history that goes back 40,000 years. distorted singing and rocking the mike underwater in denmark.

making music, whoo—hoo! we're starting this week in africa on a train line that passes through some of the continent's wildest landscape. the freedom railway cuts through more than 18,000 kilometres of dense jungle, mountains and savannah, as it winds its way from dar es salaam in tanzania to zambia's central province. but more than a0 years after it opened, it's now beginning to show its age and is overdue and major upgrade. we bought a ticket and went

to find out what makes the journey so unique. and if you're tempted by a rail journey through africa, here's our pick of some of the highlights. the continent's first ever high—speed train line is due to open this summer in morocco. it'll more than halve the time it takes to travel from the port of tangier to casablanca, where you can pick up slower connections onto fez or marrakesh. another key upgrade recently has been the stretch from mombasa to nairobi, in kenya. that route used to be known as the lunatic express, because its construction in the late 19th century was so dangerous. thousands of labourers died working on it, many from malaria, some from being attacked by lions. the 12 hourjourney has now been reduced to four and a half, but at those speeds you might find that any visible big game whizzes by at a pace that makes it

slightly trickier to spot. one of the most luxurious and most expensive rides africa has to offer is south africa's blue train. it takes 27 hours to travel the nearly 1,000 miles from pretoria to cape town and will set you back around £900, or about $1200 us. however, you are paying not just for dramatic views of the landscapes, but also for high—end 5—star service onboard. and in egypt, the line from cairo to aswan tracks the course of the nile and offers excellent views of plantations and villages on the way. if you try and book at the ticket office they'll put you on the sleeper service and you will miss all the views, however, there is nothing to stop you booking online orjust turning up and getting your ticket on the train. do check the latest travel advice before you go. still to come on the travel show...

we take our best pout along to be museum of selfies. 0oh! and why i'm getting a good dunking in the name of music. amazing. you're doing good. it's lovely and warm! when you're singing into the water, you have to have water down your throat and if you open up you get the water in your lungs. so, do stay with us. the travel show, your essential guide, wherever you're heading. ok, it's time for trend in travel, your monthly mash—up of the very best travel related stories, pics and clips online. apparently over1 million selfies are posted to social media

every day. so it was probably inevitable that someone would open up a museum of selfies. it opens in la for a month—long engagement, starting in april. it's more than just a gallery of art, it's an interactive installation that allows people to create selfies of there own. selfies have an interesting history that goes back 40,000 years. the human form is a very old thing that we've depicted since we were able to start drawing on cave walls. it's changed because technology and the techniques have become more advanced. this year, south africa celebrates 100 years since the birth of nelson are mandela, with a packed calendar of concerts, celebrations and a new app. madiba's journey guides visitors around many of the sites that shaped the great man's life, including robben island, when he was imprisoned for 18 long, gruelling years. the listings are decked out with images, histories

and even audio guides. it's available for both i0s and android. now i'll meet a travel photographer with a difference. jacqui kenny uses google street view to explore the world, posting her screen grabs under the name ‘the agoraphobic traveller'. she suffers from a fear of open spaces, leaving her largely confined to her house, but her work is spreading across the globe, with an exhibition in new york and nearly 100,000 instagram followers. for a limited time she's selling her prints and donating a portion of the profits to the brain and behaviour research foundation. and we caught up with blind backpacker tony giles, fresh from his trip to israel and palestine, for a facebook live interview. tony has visited over 120 countries, despite losing his sight as a child. what has been the most unforgettable place that you have visited?

what's been the most amazing place. new zealand is the most amazing country, i have been twice and the first time i spent three months on the bus, travelling around and bungeejumping. i love the people and the nature, i can smell it all and i can sense it all walking up and down a mountain. thank you to everyone who sent us your pictures from their travels, using our hash tag. here is what caught my eye. mario took this stunning sunset shot of the church of assumption at lake bled in slovenia. while roger captured another sunset view overlooking sydney harbour. don't forget to share your travel pictures with us on our twitter feed. ok, here are the travel videos we have been viewing this month. 70 years ago this month, sri lanka declared independence from great britain. so we have selected a couple of films that show the country at its best that you can

also check out online. and if you see anything you think we should know about, please do get in touch. you can find us on twitter using @bbctravelshow. and finally this week, i travel to aalborg in denmark. this is a country almost completely surrounded by water, no matter where you are you are never more than 50 kilometres from the coast. so it should come as no surprise

that it was here that a local artist was inspired to combine music and water in a way that you have never heard before. this is the group between music, their latest show is the first in a four part series called aquasonic, which explores who we are as human beings and it begins with our time in the womb. we are so often divided between you and me, them and us, different religions and different cultures, but this is something we all know something about. we have our first nine months covered by this water filter, so i think somehow the audience, i think they are on at least an unconscious level will have a flashback to hearing those sounds. so as performers, how does it feel

when you are underwater performing to an audience? it gets really, somehow a sense of loneliness to it. there is not only a visual loneliness to see these humans in the tanks, but also the sound has a kind of loneliness to it, i think that is quite a nice idea. so, here goes. 0ne deep breath and well, actually this is quite nice. you are doing good! it is lovely and warm. yeah. this is great. so if you take this microphone that is hanging and then you hit this bell plate, you see the one? yes, this one here? yes. then you take the microphone and put it towards it. do you hear that effect?

then you can sort of play with it. playing music in water has two sides. on one side it is terrifying because also when you are singing into the water you have to have water down your throat and if you open up you get the water in your lungs. so that's quite terrifying. so how on earth do you get musical insurance to play underwater? well it took us 10—11 years to make this and how come it took so long? because 0k, it is something that you need to really research and when you see what other people have done and trying other instruments. most instruments didn't sound really good, but we saw somehow a potential in this. but we also realised we had to build instruments to work in the water, so we found collaborators around

the world to help us build instruments for this project. from his studio in bath in england, matt nolan works with artists all over the world to create custom—made instruments. i guess somehow i seem to become the guy people go to when they need something unusual. spooky. i was approached by, i think it was one of the new production guys for aquasonic, they needed some bespoke underwater percussion. i tried a lot of things in a small tank of water here and was astonished by how many things just literallyjust go clunk and don't do anything else. all of the high frequencies, that shimmer like a cymbal all just disappears. with various experiments,

trying this and that, we narrowed down on those instruments that were heavy and massive and could sustain and contain a certain amount of sonic energy and radiate out in time so the water doesn't kill it too quickly. well it is always good to find something that is not working and figure out how to make it work. back in denmark i am beginning to think i am a bit of a natural. maybe you should just pull the darbuka to the front window and if you hit it with a hammer you can close the sound with your hand. another thing, if you take — there is a small stick on the top of the — yeah, exactly. and you can use that for the ring over there, with the holes in it. 0h 0k.

that's so cool! you're making music! it is amazing, you have these hammers — when you hit, it resonates and you can feel it in your body. it is a totally different experience than hanging a bell with a hammer. and when you have been out of order for a couple of weeks or months and when we go, we have to play somewhere and get in the tank, it feels like getting home again. try to go down and then hit maybe number one and number three together. underwater music, trickier than it appears and definitely one not to try at home. unfortunately that's all we've got time for on this week's show. coming up next week: with the winter olympics in full swing in south korea, carmen heads to seoul for a taste of its street food culture. let me tell you, it is pretty cold out here right now,

it feels well below zero, but look at this place, it's so bustling! you would think people would be at home with the central heating on full blast, but no — this place is really happening. and we are off to one of the toughest, wildest environments the uk has to offer. jo walleyjoins a tour which teaches you how to survive a night outdoors in scotland's cairngorm mountains. so i have been digging for a couple of hours now and the camera is finally starting to completely freeze over and i am also freezing over. cheers everyone! so dojoin us then, if you can. in the meantime, don't forget you can catch up with us while we are out on the road in real—time by signing up to our social medai feeds. details are on the screen now. from now, from me and the rest of the travel show team in denmark, it is goodbye. once again, ijust want to bring

you up to date with how we see the weather developing right across the british isles in the coming days. and i think there will be something of a transformation for many of us as early as today. a much brighter day for central and western parts compared to monday, simply because monday's weather front slowly but surely is easing its way over towards the north sea but not quite completing the job, and that's quite important because it gives leaden skies for tuesday. the last of the mild air trapped with that weather front, slowly just becoming confined to the east. 0ut towards the west, underneath clear skies, tuesday will start fairly cool. western scotland, northern ireland, parts of wales too. there could be a touch of frost

if you're very prone. now, let's see how we're going to do for the school run and the morning commute. as i say, with the weather front making its progress over towards the east, there will be brighter skies. just putting the detail model on here, to show you there's a speckling of showers, particularly over the high ground. they could be wintry across scotland. but dry to start with to the western side of the pennines, through northern ireland, the west midlands, wales and the south—west of england. but go that bit further east, anywhere really from about yorkshire down to the far south—east, and you're looking at a fair amount of cloud and the prospect of some rain as well, which could, for some, hang around for the greater part of the day. you've got an onshore breeze as well, along these eastern shores. that combination of the cloud, the lack of sunshine and that breeze, 7—9. but further towards the north and the west, where you get some sunshine at last, will push those temperatures up nicely — 10, 11, 12 degrees or so. now, with high pressure building in across that old weather front, we're left with just a residue of cloud which helps to keep

the temperatures up as we start the new day on wednesday but either side of it, where the skies are clear, we will end up with a touch of frost and that is the shape of things to come as we move into the latter part of the week and indeed on into the weekend. high pressure trying to build in and starting to connect us to a really cold continent. we will not be looking to the atlantic, as we have done through monday and tuesday, we will be looking towards the continent and scandinavia. so here is wednesday, with a high—pressure close by to us, keeping the atlantic fronts at bay, but there will be sunshine, yes, there will be a lot of dry weather, but notice the temperatures, after that coolish sort of start - it's 7-9d. no more the 10—12, if indeed you ever saw that. here, we are into thursday and indeed towards the tail—end and of the week, and here is the mechanism that eventually draws that cold air towards the british isles. the high pressure. dry, yes, but the temperatures set to drop quite markedly as we get through to the weekend. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe.

my name is mike embley. our top stories: explosions, screams and sirens. hundreds dead and scores injured — syria's war in eastern ghuota intensifies, syria's war in eastern ghouta intensifies, as air attacks reign down on the battle for one of the country's last rebel held areas. chant: enough is enough! students protest outside the white house, demanding action on gun control. president trump says he'll support efforts to tighten background checks on gun owners. jailed for 32 years — a british university lecturer is described as one of the worst paedophiles ever found on the web. more than 2.5 million babies a year die before they're a month old. a unicef report on infant mortality says many of the deaths are preventable.