this is bbc news. i'm nkem ifejika. our top stories: the bombardment continues on the ground, as the un security council delays a crucial vote on a ceasefire in syria. a former senior adviser to donald trump pleads guilty to conspiracy and lying to fbi investigators. as pressure grows for action on gun ownership, the american president suggests again that classroom teachers should be armed. and, taking on the system. the cuban family prepared to go the extra mile for a long—awaited reunion. hello. the un security council has postponed a vote on a ceasefire in syria until later on saturday. tee feeelutiefi. fieuli; eeee énfiwfit ghouta.

opposition activists say hundreds have now died in aerial attacks. our middle east editor jeremy bowen reports. this is what happened in eastern ghouta as diplomacy stuttered — the enclave was pounded. above them, russian jets, with their syrian allies, fighters would respect any truce. in eastern ghouta, men from civil defence risked their lives to rescue civilians, even though the buildings could collapse and the planes could come back. in the dust and confusion, these children were separated from their parents. the rescuers ignored the dangers. the eu condemned what it

called "brutal attacks". diplomacy is supposed to find words and deeds to stop this happening. they were rushed into underground hospitals. it is hard to end a war, or even a battle, with words, especially when one side — in syria, the regime and its allies in syria, military power, the capacity to inflict pain and death, sets the pace of events. another is to recreate small pockets of normality, kindness and decency. this girl is 11 years old, and like most people in eastern ghouta, she's been living in a basement.

mothers and their children wait and hope. translation: it's been two months since i went to school and saw my friends. we're here in the shelter because of the bombing. the rockets and missiles never end. i hope the war will stop so we can go home. among syria's children, only teenagers remember peace. the world has failed a generation. explosion these men waited for a lull in the bombing to try to bury a member of theirfamily — but they ran out of time. in syria, no—one can rest in peace. jeremy bowen, bbc news. one of donald trump's former campaign aides has admitted charges of conspiracy against the united states and lying to investigators. in a plea deal, rick gates has pledged to co—operate in "any and all matters" with the us special counsel's inquiry into alleged russian political meddling in the us. from los angeles,

peter bowes reports. a day in court for a man under considerable pressure to plead guilty and reveal what he knows guilty end revegl whgt he kngws possible guilty end reveel whet he knewe possible russian meddling in about possible russian meddling in the us election. facing multiple charges, rick gates admitted that he took part in a financial conspiracy with paul manafort, donald trump's campaign chairman. paul manafort denies the allegations. mr gates also acknowledged lying to the fbi about a meeting in 2013 when the two men sat down with a member of 75’ eee we if e tiii—ef’fiégf—r—e e— e ————r eee ee:e we :e.ez e tiiiéf’fi‘ifeee—r—e e— e ————r and eee ee:e we :e.ez e tiii—ef’fiéeiflr—e e— e ————r and a eee eee we eez e tiii—ee’eiéeif—r—e e— e ————r and a lobbyist. he eee eee we eee e tiii—ee’eiéeif—r—e e— e ————r and a lobbyist. he falsely congress and a lobbyist. he falsely claimed ukraine, where both men have a history of working as political co nsulta nts, a history of working as political consultants, was not discussed. there are no allegations that rick gates or paul manafort colluded with russia to the outcome of russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 election, and the president was quick to underline this in a

tweet last week. but as a leading figure at the centre of the campaign, mr gates could have information valuable to the special counsel, robert mueller. this part, robert mueller is bringing additional charges against paul manafort. the plea deal means his sentence will be much shorter than could have been. the question is what will he tell investigators in the meantime? president trump has repeated his call for teachers to be armed with guns. pressure is growing for action after the shooting at a school in florida last week in which 1a students and three members of staff were killed. meanwhile, florida's governor wants to restrict the sale of guns. our north america editor - staff and teachers return to the marjory stoneman douglas school today as a nation continues to grope for explanations of what happened. for some, it's all about guns. for others, it's mental health and societal breakdown. but for whatever reason didn't act.

and he's taking a mighty kicking from the president. at the beginning, so he certainly did a poorjob. but that's a case where somebody was outside, they were trained, but they didn't react properly under pressure, or they were a coward. speaking to conservative activists, the president also restated his belief that some teachers should be carrying concealed weapons in school. and the beauty is it's concealed — nobody would ever see it unless they needed it. it's concealed! so this crazy man who walked in wouldn't even know who it is that has it. that's good. and a teacher would have shot the hell out of him before cheering and applause

and in florida, the governor has announced a range of measures to tighten security. the goal of this plan of action is to make massive changes in pratéfitifig'fitfi echeele. for mental health, and to do everything we can to keep guns out of the hands of those dealing with mental problems or threatening harm to themselves or others. the president has just told a news conference "we are well on the way to solving that horrible problem of gun violence". but so far, there have only been sketchy proposals and no class of weapon is being banned. well on the way? well, that might be wishful thinking. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. well, earlier i spoke tojim irvine of the buckeye firearms association in ohio, where they run a training camp for teachers who are armed and taught to deal with attacks. and i pointed out to him that many people are against arming teachers.

but looking at all the evidence, say, for example, the fbi has compiled so far, they haven't seen any evidence that arming people in these kinds of situations prevents them from happening, or stops the perpetrators from carrying on with what they want to do. i beg to differ. imagine if coach feis had a firearm. he was there, he went to the event. we've got these people in every school. there's no disagreement staff do not want to carry a firearm. that's fine. there's nothing wrong with them and no—one should ever be forced to do this. but if we have people who are going to the scene on a — so that they live through this event? how about they end the killing before one more kid gets shot? i don't understand how that's controversial, giving them the tools to do that.

because american high schools are very big. unless you put an armed teacher almost at the door of every classroom or at every single entrance, you are going to just we have that in hundreds of schools and it works just fine. there is no problem and there have not been killing at those schools. e— eee e ee :—: e eee e .e eeee e7 was because — are you saying that it was not well defended? no, i don't know why it was attacked. but what we do know, when we study active killer events, almost every one in this country happens in the few places where the victims are not allowed to shoot back. there is an absolute trend there. gun control is a failure. when you look at the results of it, it ends up in more dead people, it is time we realised the unintended consequence of a well—meaning policy. but the bottom line is results matter, and the results of gun control are failure and dead kids. it's enough. we would just like to bring you some

breaking news from the capital of eeefigé eee; “e; if‘e ieflel e1 coppell. officials say afghanistan, coppell. officials say a suicide bomber detonated explosives in the diplomatic area of the city. we're hearing that one person so the city. we're hearing that one person so far has been killed and six others have been wounded. the reports are - the attack happened reports are that the attack happened at around 8:30am in the morning local time, that is at this - in local time, that is at this point in time, about one hour ago. we will bring you more details as we get them he on bbc news. —— here. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the united states is to extend its stop—and—search operations on ships suspected of violating sanctions against north korea. it's the latest us effort to stop pyongyang's nuclear programme. also, 18 people have died in two bomb blasts in the somali capital, mogadishu. a suicide bomber blew up a car near the presidential palace and a second blast was close to the national intelligence agency. both were followed by heavy gunfire.

the president of the european council has described as "pure illusion" any attempt by britain to pick and choose the terms of its future relationship with europe. speaking at a summit of eu leaders, which was not attended by britain, donald tusk said he hoped to get more clarity on exactly what britain's proposals were when he meets theresa may next week. from brussels, damian grammaticas reports. france.£ecmany,_ltaly;- today, all waiting to hear what the uk wants from its future ties. but if theresa may's plan is to seek special access to the single market for parts of the uk economy, it was immediately rebuffed. it's not an a la carte. it's not possible to be aligned with the european union when it suits and not what it doesn't. that's not possible. the eu doesn't yet know what was decided by mrs may and her ministers at chequers yesterday, but eu leaders have said before, and they said again today,

she can't pick and choose only the bits of the single market she likes. i'm glad that the uk government seems to be moving towards a more detailed position. however, if the media reports are correct, i am afraid that the uk position today is based on pure illusion. but the uk's exit poses problems for the eu, too. today, its leaders were tackling perhaps the thorniest issue of all — the eu's looming budget problem. when uk payments to the eu cease, the eu will face a shortfall of more than ten billion euros a year — that's at least 10% of its annual spending. there's a hole in the budget, so is your country prepared to accept less and see cuts to spending? so if we want to finance more,

we have to pay more. it's very simple. is your country prepared to pay more after brexit? no. if i should keep my answer short, i would say no. so hints at divisions between eu countries, and that mightjust give the uk some leverage damian grammaticas; in london, which offers outsiders a window into the secretive state. 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 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. part of africa. ellie je eef-eieeeeeteee eeee , e , e 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 bbc news. the latest headlines: as syrian airstrikes continue to bombard eastern ghouta,

the un security council has again postponed a crucial vote on a humanitarian ceasefire. a former senior adviser to president trump has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and lying to fbi investigators, who are examining russian influence in the 2016 presidential election. let's get more on our top story — the ongoing crisis in syria — earlier i spoke with lina sergie attar, a syria—american writer from aleppo — who now lives in chicago. she gave us her view on the political and humanitarian situation. well, first of all, thank you for having me on this very tragic week for syria, when we have seen the war escalate even further, the syrian ground war. it has become the norm for these kinds of situations where the regime and russia , like eastern ghouta, like we saw last year in aleppo. and when it comes down

to the security council bringing in a resolution that will stop the violence across the country for 30 days to give civilians the relief they need. russia delays the vote and will probably veto it. i thought that was the whole point of diplomats here, eueeeeed te ee eeleeee eeidgeeei well, when it comes to syria, what we have seen over the past seven years, so many resolutions that were aimed airstrikes, chemical weapons attacks, against the sieges that used starvation as a weapon of war, and all of the war crimes that are being used against the syrian people over almost seven years, with hundreds of thousands of people dead, millions of refugees, millions of displaced, inside the country and still, these resolutions get

vetoed by russia. so, it would seem that this, if it can be gotten through, would be just a sticking plaster? true, but it would be also saving lives, as many corridors to reachthe people who even before this latest bombardment and escalation of attacks and violence by the regime and russian airforces, had been suffering from malnutrition, the lack of any kind of basic necessities. humanitarian agencies need to reach the people of eastern ghouta. over 400,000 people are living in this siege and people must be able to reach them and to help them, and to be able to help as many people as possible to be able to survive. how can people — how can the people of eastern ghouta be assisted at this point in time? first of all, we need

to have a no—fly zone orjust a complete stop to the airstrikes on eastern ghouta. there has to be a cessation of the hostilities first and then we need to open up humanitarian access corridors for the humanitarian agencies to be able to enter eastern ghouta, evacuate the people in need of medical assistance, and reach the children and the elderly who are suffering from extreme malnutrition. barbara alston — lead singer of the ‘60s us girl—group — the crystals — has died at the age of 7a. # met him on a monday and my heart stood still. # da doo ron ron...# she was crucial to the sound of hit singles such as da doo ron ron and there's no other like my baby. she died a week ago in north carolina after contracting flu — but the news has only now emerged. tributes are also being paid

to eddy amoo of the band the real thing — who has also died aged 7a. # you to me are everything...# famous for hits like you to me are everything in the ‘70s, the band were considered pioneers in the uk music industry after becoming the first all—black band to reach number one. when america announced last september that its embassy in havana would no longer be issuing visas, it marked a serious cooling of relations with cuba. it also meant cubans would have to travel to the embassy in colombia instead — a trip beyond the reach of many — making it much harderfor people to visit family in the us. andrew plant reports. a hotel room in colombia. this man is already a long way from home. he has come from cuba,

bags packed with paperwork to try to get a visa to enter the usa and visit the family he hasn't seen for almost six years. translation: i'm realiquqking._ moment. all the effort will be worth it. to be with my family — that's my one and only wish. w- but now they must travel 2,000 kilometres to bogota in colombia. last year, president trump announced the us was suspending visa processing in havana, partially reversing processes put in place by barack obama. the number of immigrant visas issued to cubans has since crashed. the extra travel costs simply too much for many. getting the paperwork he needs.

to reunite with my family and share time with them in the united states, to see my children and grandchildren, all my family. blew united efter ee meny overcoming the extra difficulties that are now stopping so many cubans from stepping foot on american soil. in the wake of the school shooting in florida — students across the us have been calling for stricter gun laws. conference in maryland — where president trump was speaking earlier — think about the issue? we went to find out. people do tend to talk about young people as a group and say oh, young people as a group and say oh, young people believe a certain way. people as a group and say oh, young people believe a certain waylj people as a group and say oh, young people believe a certain way. i do admire many of the students out

there and organising. i'm hoping that america willjoin the corner and our generation will not fail in the same way that past younger generations have. i think it is encouraging to see such an aware generation capable of using social media, mr, communicating with professional organisations. i don't agree with them but i think what they do was great. i understand the angerand the they do was great. i understand the anger and the hostility happening among my generation because it is my being affected by this edict this sort of incident has not happened in any other generation in the history of our nation. i applaud anyone who was out there is spreading their voice and making their voice heard. i may not have the same solution but lam not i may not have the same solution but i am not going to stop someone from getting out there and saying what they want to say. what happened was a tragedy and you cannot escape that. was pointless and terrible. i don't believe that allowing that

angerto don't believe that allowing that anger to shape don't believe that allowing that angerto shape our don't believe that allowing that anger to shape our policy is a prudent idea in any way. i completely disagree with what they are proposing. ithink completely disagree with what they are proposing. i think that many people disagree with what they are proposing. no-one wants to have to think about their children having teachers who are armed in the classroom. that is a scary thought. u nfortu nately, classroom. that is a scary thought. unfortunately, i think it has come to the point where something dramatic, dramatic measures must be taken. guns are a part of american culture so we need to understand how we can best use background checking. if we can repair the sense of community, faith and family and all these things, then we will see the gun issue completely disappeared. you want to take guns away and on the other side says now. guns and every teacher ‘s pockets. i'm hopeful that our generation can look at it in hopeful that our generation can look at itina hopeful that our generation can look at it in a more constructive way but it must be facilitated by the adults

and people with actual political power to wield. as we've been hearing — the united states has unveiled a raft of new sanctions aimed at north korea. it highlights once again the tense relationship between pyongyang and washington — and the fact that we know so little about the regime — and its people. but a new exhibition opening in london is aiming to change that — as the bbc‘s tim allman explains. when you think of north korea, these are the sort of images that probably come to mind. military parades, precision marching, a closed off isolated country, and a mystery to the rest of the world. that is why this exhibition is such an eye—opener. it is trying to provide some insight into what life is really like for north koreans. we understand elements of it but we tend to have a very black—and—white viewpoint, so i think this is one of these elements that if we start to understand it, it there are propaganda posters, packaging for sweets and soft drinks, even packets

of north korean sugar. it is not all inward looking, there are a collection of stamps featuring princess diana made to commemorate the birth of prince william. i would be very worried if people saw them and then decided to defect to north korea, but i think it is going to be more likely that people will understand more and want to understand more. for so many people, north korea has become an enigma. its people are unknowable, its future uncertain. but this exhibition could change thatjust a little. just to remind - can get in touch with me and the rest of the team on twitter. hello there.

and about, if you are appropriately dressed. the skies will often be blue, but underneath those blue skies fi'is' going to4ee¥chfiy~| in the strength of a biting cold easterly wind. now, we start saturday morning on a very chilly note. perhaps not quite as cold for northern ireland, because there's a bit more in the way of cloud here. where you see this white shimmering effect on the map, that shows where we have a touch of frost to start the day. now, that frost will slowly melt away to reveal a lot of dry weather and some spells of sunshine. but, with that chilly breeze down towards the south, it is going to feel quite cold, despite the fact that temperatures on the thermometer will get up to around six, possibly seven degrees in places. always more cloud across parts of south devon and cornwall but sunny skies for much of wales and northern england. northern ireland brightening up after the cloudy start and things turning brighter again after a cloudy start in western scotland.

in eastern scotland up towards the northern isles, we should see a fair amount of sunshine. then we go through saturday night, we do it all again underneath these largely clear skies. it is going to turn cold. perhaps at this stage, a little more cloud feeding in towards parts of eastern scotland and north—east england. notice still some green shading on the map here. maybe not quite as cold underneath the cloud. the chilliest weather will be underneath those clear skies. so again, here's the frost to start sunday morning. that frost only slowly lifting as temperatures rise pretty slowly on sunday morning. but then again, a lot of sunshine. but that extra cloud for eastern scotland and parts of north—east england could start to produce the odd snow flurry. still with that chilly feel, still that cold easterly wind, particularly noticeable in the south. so when we add on the strength of the wind, this is what it will feel like — subzero for the likes of birmingham and norwich. and that's because we're going to be bringing the air all the way from siberia. we really start to tap into that very cold air as we head into the new working week. not only will it be cold, with temperatures struggling to get above freezing even by day, there is the increasing chance

but even further west, not completely exempt. perhaps not quite as many showers but just about anywhere, we will have the potential for a little bit of snow. some snow at times and widespread frost and ice. this is bbc news. the headlines: a vote on a un security council resolution calling for until later on saturday. there's been deadlock since thursday because of objections from russia. rick gates. mr gates has admitted lying to the fbi and has pleaded guilty to conspiracy. reports say that other more serious potential charges, including bank fraud and money laundering, also, the head of the european

council says the uk is under "pure illusion" if it thinks it can pick and choose the terms of its future relationship with europe. let's take a quick look at what's been making headlines on the front covers of some of the first editions of the morning's papers.