i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: america's gun lobby hits back, accusing its critics of exploiting the florida school shooting for political gain. to stop a bad guy with a gun, it takes a good guy with a gun. north korea says it's sending its intelligence chief to south korea for the olympics closing ceremony. donald trump is sending his daughter. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the programme. from the waste bins of fast food restaurants back onto the plates of the philippine poor. we explore the so—called "pag—pag" industry. it's a lunar new year tradition, lucky money in red envelopes. but after one chinese student sued her own parents,

we ask if it is a gift or a right? live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news. it's newsday. glad you could join us. it's 9am in singapore, 1am in the morning in london, and 8pm in the eastern united states where the american gun lobby has lashed out against calls for tougher weapons limits. relatives and friends of the 17 students who died in florida have called for the measures to stop another school shooting. but the head of the national rifle association said it was an elitist plot to infringe american freedoms. wayne la pierre said teachers should be armed instead, an idea supported by president trump. here'sjon sopel. will the florida school shooting

come to be seen as a landmark moment, when impotence gave way to rage, and rage led to action? neveragain! the vociferous students who have taken to the streets are bringing change. but not always in the way they wanted. the president, making clear that he thinks the way to make schools more secure is to train and arm more teachers. tweeting today: "if a potential sicko shooter knows that a school has a large number of very weapon—talented teachers and others who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will never attack at school. cowards won't go there. problem solved." he first floated the idea at an emotional white house meeting last night, with victims‘ families. one of those in attendance was a pupil at the parklands school, sam zeif. how is it that easy to buy this type of weapon? afterwards, he was dismissive about the president's plan. arming teachers is just not what we need.

you know? this is a problem because guns were brought into our school. why would it make sense to bring more guns into school? and the president has held another white house meeting today to discuss the issue, promising action that will win the support of many of the students. i think we are making a lot of progress, and i can tell you it is a tremendous feeling that we want to get something done. he wants increased background checks on those seeking to purchase weapons. to ban bump stocks, this is the device that turns a semiautomatic rifle into a machine—gun. and he backs raising the minimum age for buying a rifle to 21. to those arguing for comprehensive gun control measures, what donald trump is proposing might seem like teeny—weeny baby steps. but any measure will have to get congressional approval, and doing that is never achieved without a fight. today, in a rare public appearance,

the leader of the nra spoke out, and he was in no mood for compromise. lean in, listen to me now, and never forget these words. to stop a bad guy with a gun, it takes a good guy with a gun. applause. in other words, what america needs is more guns, not fewer. the president is being pulled in one direction by the nra, another by the students. if past form as a guide, there will only be one winner, and it won't be the students. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. more on the us gun debate in a moment. let's take a look at some of the day's other news.

a senior north korean official, blamed for two attacks on south korea that killed 50 people, will attend the closing ceremony of the winter olympics. kim yong—chol will also have a meeting with south korea's president, moonjae—in. the south hopes it will continue to warm relations between the two countries. translation: we believe that the north korean high—level delegation‘s participation in the closing ceremony will help improve the relationship between south and north korea and bring peace to the korean peninsula, including the north's denuclearisation, so we will accept their visit to the south. also in the news today: the un security council has not been able to agree on a humanitarian ceasefire for syria. russia said a draft resolution needed amendments, but western diplomats have called the move a delaying tactic, to allow the syrian government to carry on with its offensive in eastern ghouta. syria, too, says the resolution is flawed. translation: we will not succumb to those who have supported terrorism in syria, we will not be complacent of the plans

of governments in five countries, five countries that met in washington last month to divide syria. the un children's fund, unicef, is warning that almost three—quarters of a million rohingya children face huge risks for years to come. in a report to mark six months since the start of the crisis unicef says hundreds of thousands of children remain trapped in makeshift camps, denied education, and at risk of disease and violence. this is one of the worst point of history in rohingya. —— points. a policeman has died during violent clashes between rival football fans in the spanish city of bilbao. more than 500 police were deployed for athletic bilbao‘s europa league match against spartak moscow

on thursday evening. supporters launched fireworks at each other, and at least five arrests were made. the police officer who died, reportedly suffered a heart attack. uefa has strongly condemned the clashes. at the winter olympics, hungary has made history with its first ever winter olympics gold. the short track speed skaters were the ones to do it, beating the favoured south koreans. there are four gold medals to be won on friday including the long track speed skating and women's figure skating. hong kong's harbourfront is known for glistening skyscrapers. now a sculpture park isjoining the skyline. the aim of the collection of works by 19 local and international artists, is to increase public access to art in a city associated more with exclusive high—end galleries, let's return to our top story, tthe nra criticizing those calling for tougher gun control laws following the florida school shooting. peter bowes is in los angeles for us. there are reports that when the

school shooting started in florida, there was an armed sheriff officer but he failed to engage the shooter. what more do you know? that has come through in the last few hours. it seems there is video footage of the armed police officer on duty. he was in uniform and was on the property at the time and made it to the building where the shooting was taking place and was apparently outside of that building for about four minutes. the shooting lasted for six minutes, but crucially, he did not go inside. now this has been revealed by the broward county sheriff who said he was sick to the stomach, devastated, revealing what had happened. he said the sheriff

had happened. he said the sheriff had to go in and address the killer and should have killed the killer. his deputy was initially suspended without pay pending an internal investigation, but it has since emerged he has in fact resigned, he has retired from the force. there is a lot of focus right now on donald trump's tweets supporting armed teachers. how are ordinary americans reacting to this? well, there are a lot of mixed feelings. i was speaking to a group of people in los angeles. women, a nurse, a mother, they were shocked by the prospect that teachers at schools their children attend should be armed. they say teachers want to teach, not

be used as armed guards. now, california is a relatively liberal state, so this is not necessarily a cross—section of people across the country, but it does to some extent reflect a certain huge amount of disquiet upon hearing the president about 2k hours ago talking in such positive terms, and, as you said, tweeting earlier today about his enthusiasm for seeing teachers armed with guns. the question is what happens next after all of this rhetoric. thank you forjoining us, peter bowes, in los angeles. is eight too young for children to get careers advice? that's the recommendation submitted to a parliamentary inquiry in the australian state of victoria. the aim is to explain the different job options available. research indicates that children divide jobs into what's suitable for a boy and what's suitable for a girl from as early as seven years old. and those ideas tend to come from traditional perceptions. popularjobs for boys include being a police officer, while teaching is a popular

choice for girls. the same research also showed exposing children to different choices is key. earlier, i spoke to bernadette gigliotti from the career education association to the victorian government, which submitted the evidence to parliament. she explained what her organisation hopes to achieve. we're aiming to ensure that young people have an opportunity for quality career education programmes. we're not talking about career advice, i want to make that quite clear. in terms of our submission, we are talking about career education, structured programmes from a younger age, that allow young people to explore the world of work and to get an understanding of the language of careers before having to make more informed choices as they progress through their secondary education. introducing children from as early as eight is all to the world of work, are we not curtailing their childhood somewhat? not at all. i think young children are quite curious. they are already exploring the world. work makes up a significant

component of the world and what we have available to them. i think we are not actually curtailing, we are opening up their eyes. this natural curiosity to explore and to find out what could possibly be available to them is part of a good educational progress. i will draw your attention to quite a significant piece of research that has come out of the uk, called drawing the future, where seven and eight—year—olds were asked to draw occupational choices. in this particular piece of research it showed quite clearly that if we are able to start the conversationguite early able to, perhaps, strike down some of the myths and stereotypes that come with very old paradigms in relation to occupational choices. what led you to that age?

it is a young age. we are talking about very young children. yes. well, our evidence, we have conducted ourselves, and from right around the globe, there is quite a bit of international evidence, suggests that if we start quite early having the conversation about what makes up the world of work and what interests them, what skills that they might have already, their talents, and where those talents might be used, this evidence—based is quite clearly that we can start to have those conversations in a way that will allow young people to explore a wider selection of opportunities, including, perhaps, even subject choices. you're watching newsday on the bbc.

still to come on the programme: second—hand food. we report from the philippines where millions of poor city—dwellers rely on the so—called "pag—pag" trade. also on the programme: the lunar new year tradition of giving children "lucky money." but can parents pocket it? a court in china had a say. prince charles has chosen his bride. the prince proposed to lady diana spencer three weeks ago. she accepted, she says, without hesitation. as revolutions go, this had its fair share of bullets. a climax in the night outside the gates of mr marcos's sanctuary, malacanang, the name itself symbolising one of the cruellest regimes of modern aaia. —— cruellest regimes of modern asia. the world's first clone has been produced of an adult mammal. scientists in scotland have produced a sheep called dolly using a cell from another sheep. citizens are trying to come to grips

with their new freedom. though there is joy and relief today, the scars are everywhere. not for 20 years have locusts been seen in such numbers in this part of africa. some of the swarms have been ten miles long. this is the last time the public will see this pope, very soon for the sake of the credibility and authority of the next pope. benedict xvi will, in his own words, be hidden from the world for the rest of his life. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm kasia madera in london. our top stories: america's gun lobby group, the nra, has fiercely defended weapons ownership, despite demands for stricter controls after last week's florida school shooting. a senior north korean official blamed for two attacks on south korea that killed 50 people will attend the closing ceremony of the winter olympics. a letter containing white powder

that was sent to the office of prince harry and his fiancee megan markle is being treated as a race hate crime, according to london police. that story is popular on bbc.com. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. we'll start with arab news, which is leading on the intensive bombardment of eastern ghouta. it reports that saudi arabia is calling on the syrian regime to halt the offensive while aid agencies are struggling to reach those who are in need of help. moving on to gulf news, they've got more on the story we're leading on — the issue of gun control in the us following the school massacre in florida. they're reporting that president trump has endorsed stiff measures by pushing for more background checks and raising the minimum age of buyers to 21.

and the china daily is featuring a picture of the country's olympic competitor wu dajing celebrating a victory after winning the men's 500m final of short track speed skating at the winter games. —— 500m final of short track speed skating at the winter games. the paper reports that his win, which gives china their first gold medal of the games, triggered a standing ovation from hundreds of chinese spectators. turning to the philippines now. it's estimated that more than 21 million people live under the poverty line. in the capital manila, many struggle to find work and the money to buy food. that's led to the rise of a trade of ‘pagpag' — that's food scavenged from rubbish tips, then cooked and sold in poor communities. our philippines correspondent howard johnson visited happyland barangay to meet the people involved in the trade. renato digs through bags of rubbish, looking for scraps of meat thrown

away by fast food restaurants in manila. he became a pagpag collector after he lost his job in the nearby docks. translation: my boss gives me around $6 per week after he has sold the pagpag. somehow, it is ok because it helps with house expenses, rice and other food. like renato, millions of filipinos live under the poverty line and in the overcrowded slums of manila, this is what the poorest of the poor eat — pagpag, food thrown away by others. so it is 4 o'clock in happyland ba rangay. i have seen different groups of people sifting through the rubbish already this morning. the smell here is very intense — it smells like a mixture of cheese and vinegar and sick. lots of maggots on the floor, i have seen rats running past. i have to say this isn't

what you would not expect from a place preparing food to sell to the public. from here, this restaurant owner buys the salvaged meat. pagpag is all he can afford. translation: pagpag is for poor people like us. we make it because we need to temporarily relieve hunger the cheapest way we can. before i cook it, i remove any bones to make sure that only the meat goes into the actual food. once the meat is separated from the bones, i wash it. to mask the rotting smell, he cooks the meat with strong herbs and spices. charities are working with local authorities to supply clean food and educate people about the risks of recycled meat. project pearls helps to feed malnourished children every day. if you observe and like ask the kids how old their age, you realise they are very short

and small for their age. some of them will say they are 12 years old but they look like eight years old. there is a problem with nutrition standards. but, for her regular customers, eating healthy, nutritious food is the least of their worries. translation: i eat pagpag because it is tasty. it is really good to eat. it is about having a strong stomach, us here — well, we are used to it. howard johnson reporting from manila in the philippines. let's bring you the latest pictures from california where an apartment complex is on fire. us media is reporting that at least 100 firefighters are at the scene. the building in pico rivera, in southern california, appears to be a multi—storey building, and the fire seems to have spread lengthways, affecting multiple apartments.

the fire was first reported in the attic. it quickly engulfed the first and second floors, and a portion of the roof has collapsed. firefighters have been standing on the roof of an adjoining building in an effort to battle the blaze. smoke could be seen 20 miles away in hollywood. the fire department says the building has been evacuated and that one patient has been transported to a local hospital. there's no word on other casualties yet. of course, we will keep you posted. it's a lunar new year tradition — parents giving children red envelopes containing ‘lucky money'. it's meant to express good wishes for the year ahead and provide a nest egg for the future. but whose money is it? this week, a young chinese woman went to court and forced her parents to pay $9,000 in university fees — a sum she believes was covered by her lucky money. earlier, i spoke to anh do, a reporter who covers asian—american issues for the los angeles times.

i asked her whose money is it — parents or children? i think a lot of people will say both. the kids get a portion because it is their gift and the parents, who provide all the other necessities during the year, want to have something else. you know, to save. you are vietnamese, ahn, and during yourtime when you were a kid and when you are still a single adult, how much did you receive in terms of lucky money in a red packet? several hundred dollars every season, especially when it is a time for big family reunions. you have all of your relatives and cousins and you can get $300, $500. so that is a lot of money to get all at once, especially if you are ten years old or eight or 11. so, at which age do you think that all of this money should be transferred to the child?

what i see in a lot of families is when they get to the college years, they keep the whole loot. the whole loot? so, right now, i have three red packages with me, just taking a look inside, i don't think it adds up to $500. maybe you could give us some explanation, why did tradition of red packets? in mandarin is called hongbao. it is called something different in vietnamese and it is a tradition for the elders to give to their children and grandchildren and to the older, unmarried adults. this is a wish for good luck. it is also like a symbol, kind of like to carry you into prosperity into the new year, and children line up and share their best wishes for good health and happiness

to the older members of their family before they get the gifts. this tradition is very popular, of course, because it is a lunar new year holiday. what about in the united states? is hongbao still popularly practised? yes, the asian—americans have carried that on in the us. as a contrast, it is similarto celebrating halloween. if you don't dress up, you cannot expect to go door to door and receive a treat. if you don't give, dedicate your best wishes to your family members, you can't expect to get crisp, new bills. in china, we read about this case — a child suing their parents for $9,000. has there been any kind of similar event in the us, with kids not getting their money? i haven't heard about this!

this is very rare. it will be big news in our community. a lot of parents will say, "you are 12 years old, you have got $300, $1100. let's put a portion of that into your college fund and you can spend the rest on new clothes, shoes, books". and younger kids, i think, will fall in line with that practice. fe5 5155; e152 iq;55 55; 55252252, .... 7 , . , w", . and so, they don't expect to be able to — or to have to turn over the entire total to their parents. i tell you who have been lucky, snapchat. it has lost 1.5 billion dollars worth in market value, all because this celebrity, kyliejana, doesn't like its new redesign. imagine that. —— jenner.

hello there. we have been talking for several days now about how cold the weather is on the way, over the next few days i think you will really start to feel the effects of that colder air. some of us have already seen a little bit of snow and as we get on into next week, there could well be more on the way as we increasingly tap into this bitterly cold pool of air currently sitting across siberia. but actually, you may well think it is cold enough already, certainly as we start friday morning with a widespread frost, you can see the blue colours on the chart indicating temperatures down below freezing. that is because skies have been clear overnight and that translates into sunny skies as we go on through the day on friday. some areas of cloud floating around as well, particularly across parts of england, but we could even see just the odd light shower here at times throughout the day. if we take a closer look at 3pm on our high resolution weather model, you can see large areas of clear skies expected and quite a lot of sunshine across scotland,

northern ireland and north—west england. and extra cloud across the east of england, through wales and into the south—west, it should be largely sunny through the afternoon with temperatures around five or six degrees. the wind is starting to strengthen, particularly in the south, that will continue into the weekend as this area of high pressure strengthens it's grip across scandinavia, —— pressure strengthens its grip across scandinavia, squeezing its way southwards and squeezing these strong easterly winds in our direction. saturday, a chilly feeling day, quite bright. some good spells of sunshine around and some areas of cloud floating around here and there. temperatures on the thermometer — four, five, six degrees and with the strength of the wind it will feel colder than that. into sunday, more of the same essentially, but a greater chance at this stage that it will bring some clout in from the north sea —— at this stage that it will bring some cloud in from the north sea towards parts of eastern scotland, north—east england and that cloud could start to produce some snow flurries at this stage. quite a chilly feeling

day, to say the least. as we get into the start of the new week, that is when we really begin to bring this very cold air sitting across siberia in our direction on this strong easterly wind. through monday and tuesday, temperatures will struggle. the temperatures i show you here are the daytime highs, the absolute highs. temperatures for a good part will be lower than that and notice even by day somewhere like norwich will struggle to get above freezing and as we continue to tap into that colder air, there certainly is the chance for some snow in places through next week, very tough to predict exactly where at this stage, stay tuned to the forecast. our top story. the head of the most powerful gun lobby in the us has accused activists and the media of exploiting the florida school shooting for political purposes. wayne lapierre said "opportunists" were using the tragedy to expand gun control and abolish us gun rights. president trump has suggested giving weapons to teachers. a senior north korean official, blamed for two attacks on south korea that killed 50 people, will attend the closing ceremony of the winter olympics.

kim yong—chol will also have a meeting with south korea's president moon. and this video is trending on bbc.com. the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, is on a visit to india, and his locally inspired outfits have got people taking. here he is at the sikh golden temple in amritsar. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: theresa may will make a speech next week on britain's partnership