welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: a potential trade war looms as president trump announces he'll impose steep import tariffs on steel and aluminium. one of russia's new generation of nuclear weapons unveiled by president putin — he says they can evade us defence systems. the agony goes on for the parents of the latest schoolgirls kidnapped in nigeria — they tell us their stories. and hoping for oscar glory — the profoundly deaf six—year—old who'll be joining the stars on the red carpet this weekend. president trump's promise to introduce punishing tariffs on steel and aluminium imports has been met with anger by america's main trading partners and some members of his own party.

china, the european union, canada and mexico have all threatened retaliation if the plan goes ahead next week. it fulfils a trump campaign promise to workers in declining industries in the american rustbelt, and it sent shares in us steel producers up. but overall the us stock market fell — the dowjones index closing down 1.7%. nick bryant reports. the derelict steel mills of america's old industrial heartland provided the seedbed for the rise of donald trump. he wouldn't have won the presidency had it not been for the support he received from the rust belt. the promise he gave to protect us manufacturers from cheap imports, even if it meant sparking a global trade war, echoed through these empty plants. during his first year in office he didn't erect the kind of protectionist barriers he'd promised. but today came his most controversial trade move yet. meeting with industry leaders he announced big tariffs on foreign steel and aluminium. what's been allowed to go on for decades is disgraceful. it's disgraceful.

and when it comes to a time when our country can't make aluminum and steel, and somebody said it before, and i will tell you, you almost don't have much of a country because without steel and aluminum, your country's not the same. chinese steel only accounts for a small proportion of us imports but the massive expansion of its industry has produced a global glut, driving down prices, which has angered the president. announcer: mr donald] trump! much of his america first rhetoric has been directed against beijing. we can't continue to allow china to rape our country, and that's what they are doing. it's the greatest theft in the history of the world. there's already been a fierce international reaction. the european commission warning tonight of countermeasures in response to what it called a blatant intervention

to protect us industry. on capitol hill too, raised eyebrows from senior republicans. free traders who have long believed liberalised global commerce is good for the american economy. fears of a trade war helped trigger a large sell—off on wall street. donald trump is invoking a cold war era measure not used since the reagan years, which allows us presidents to impose tariffs in the interests of national security. but the fear is it could spark a 21st—century global trade war, which damages every economy. nick bryant, bbc news, washington. did these surprise, even among the president's aids, when he announced it. i asked our washington correspondent, chris buckler, whether these measures will go ahead as promised or whether they might be delayed.

the path to the presidency was paved with all of these promises, and that was certainly true when it came to the issue of the steel industry, the plight of steel workers was mentioned time and time again by donald trump, and as president, he has made this announcement but the details are scanned. that was clear from a white house briefing today. he says he wants these tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium imported into the us. but will there be exemptions? the white house couldn't say. could they give more details? no. there were some within the white house caught completely off guard by this announcement today, and there are two camps inside the white house. some who are concerned that this could be very bad for business, and there are some within donald trump's own party, republicans who are speaking out very clearly, among them senators, among them paul ryan, leading republican in the house. and in those conversations they are saying that this could be deeply bad for business, because it could lead to a hike in steel prices which american companies need. it's worth reflecting that much

more steel is imported into the us than is exported, so this could be damaging if it does spark a trade war, and look at the list of countries that have already said they will take retaliatory action, mexico, brazil, china, the eu, canada, so this could be an issue that affects american businesses as well, so president trump is going to have to be careful. at the same time, though, it is thus a message of america first that he has said time and again throughout the campaign. some reflected inside the white house that maybe he became frustrated with having to wait and made the announcement anyway. how the detail plays out is imported. and briefly, you mentioned the speaker paul ryan saying he hopes the president will consider the unintended consequences of what he is proposing.

it's worth reflecting, too, that what's killing jobs in the rust belt is automation. and that is very true as well. you could argue that if you have imports with a very high tariff, it could mean that steel manufacturing could pick up inside america, and it is an industry that has been in decline. president trump is right in reflecting on that. however, it is not like that industry is going to suddenly emerge and become so much bigger than it currently is. businesses are still going to need steel. they're going to need steel on a constant basis, and because that industry has dried up to some extent, they are going to have to get it from somewhere, and it could come with a very high prices now. chris buckler for us chris bucklerfor us in washington. russia's president putin has unveiled a new range of nuclear weapons which he says could evade

american missile defence shields and hit targets around the world. he said the arms, which include an underwater drone and a missile capable of travelling at five times the speed of sound, were either ready or being developed. he was making a state of the nation speech ahead of the presidential election later this month. from moscow, steve rosenberg reports. announcer: vladimir vladimirovich putin. he never slips into a room quietly. vladimir putin took the stage for his annual state of the nation address. the audience was expecting to hear about the economy, social issues. and there was some of that, but then the kremlin leader took everyone by surprise. on a video screen he showcased the very latest russian nuclear weapons. 200—tonne intercontinental ballistic missiles. cruise missiles with nuclear engines. he claimed they could hit any target and dodge any defence. "and there's more," he said.

and the show continued. the missiles kept coming, and with them, a warning to the west. "those who tried to contain russia have failed," president putin said. "believe me, i am not bluffing." i think we're entering, if not already in, a new cold war and that's not just because of putin's statements this morning. you hear president trump also thumping his chest and talking about having the best nuclear systems. but in moscow the reaction from the hall — russia is acting in self defence. it's reminiscent of the cold war, is it not? we're talking about an arms race here. i don't believe — at least, the statement of my president isn't a cold war rhetoric. and if you are looking for the roots of the next edition of the cold war, look to the west.

the kremlin was delivering two messages today with this speech. the first message was to the west. russia will not be pushed around. the second message, ahead of elections here, was to the people of russia. vote for putin and you will have security at home. that's how the kremlin wants russians to see their president, as the embodiment of russia, as the protector of their country.

their fate remains unknown and parents are facing an agonising wait for any news. it's already raising uncomfortable comparisons with the kidnap of hundreds of nigerian girls from chibok five years ago. the bbc‘s stephanie hegarty has visited the school in dapchi to meet the families of some of the missing. here's her report this is where fatima

ran when the militants attacked her school. it was 7pm, she was in her dorm with her best friend zara. they were just about to eat their dinner when they heard gunshots. translation: one of our teachers told us to come out. when we came out we saw bullets flying in the air like fire. there was confusion all over the school. students screaming and rushing towards the gate. but the gate was locked. this is the path that many of the girls took to try and get away. the main exit is down that way and you can see some of their discarded sandals. they're littered all along this path here. translation: then we saw the militants‘ trucks and they were shooting and calling us to get into the trucks. they were pretending they would help us. during the attack fatima managed to run away from the militants twice, but she was with her best friend zara when they were attacked and they got separated.

she said altogether five of her closest friends are missing. this is zara. she's 1a. herfriend fatima said business was her favourite subject. yes, business. her sister falmata is 25 and went to the same school as the girls. translation: she was close to zara. it was three days before the government admitted that there had been a kidnapping. last week the authorities claimed girls had been rescued. then they said that claim was false. for zara's mum, that was the hardest moment. nigeria's president has said that the military and air force are searching for the girls. but parents aren't reassured. translation: in this school there are no children

of government officials. all the students are the daughters of poor people. now the school is eerily quiet. the scene is chillingly similar to the aftermath of the kidnapping of the chibok schoolgirls in 2014. it was three years before most of those girls were released, and over 100 of them are still missing. the parents of dapchi are afraid that they will also wait years to see their children again. stefanie hegarty, bbc news, dapchi. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we travel to the remote indian state of nagaland to meet the woman taking on the region's male dominated political system. very good to have you with us. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the main trading partners of the united states have reacted angrily to president trump's

announcement of plans to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. russia's president putin has unveiled a new range of nuclear weapons which he says could evade american missile defence shields and hit targets around the world. now to the second of our special reports from yemen. for three years there's been a civil war between the ousted government supported by saudi arabia, and houthi rebels backed by iran. the conflict has reached a stalemate with territory rarely changing hands. but the consequences have been devastating for civilians. the bbc‘s chief international correspondent lyse doucet has gained access to beihan in the south of the country — where yemeni government forces have pushed out the houthis. celebrations are seldom in yemen's intractable war. every inch gained on this forbidding terrain is a victory. it has taken more than two yea rs victory. it has taken more than two years to get this far. now yemeni

troops and tribesmen control this southern province. air strikes by saudi led allies help hasten the slow march against the houthis. the commander says houthis are hitting civilians here. houses over there and over there. the front lines in yemen's brutal war are starting to slowly shift, but this still seems like a war without end. everybody talks about a political solution. nobody believes it will happen. not while forces on both sides still believe they can keep gaining ground. but victory can be fragile. it's dangerous here. the houthis have us in their sights. we must move, quickly. beihan is the biggest town in this province and is back in army hands. a strategic town on a vital supply route. only weeks ago, the houthis had it.

but beihan is broken by years of strife. like much of yemen, health services have all but collapsed. there is only one hospital here, only two specialist doctors. caring for tens of thousands. many staff left when the houthis came, and their salaries stopped. but the patients keep coming. hassan‘s house was hit by a mortar. it's not clear who fired it. they took my whole family, he says. all three children gone. they were 11, six and two. there's just me and my wife left, he says. next door, what seems to be an empty room. it's not. a tiny baby alone, struggling to survive. we're told he has septicaemia.

even doctors are targets. this doctor tells me the houthis sent him to prison, accused of being a spy. they get information by hitting us and by electric shock. it is really suffering. in beihan‘s main market, people tell us they are worried. they say they need everything. schools, jobs, security. some expressed relief the houthis are gone, and the saudi—led coalition has stopped bombing here. i asked, did many die in the airstrikes? not many, this man says. others disagree. a lot of families died. five, says this man. an entire family was killed in this home. more than 13 people. yemen's minister of information

wants to make sure we see this. what the houthis did, he says. he tells me, we don't want to wipe out the houthis. they are yemenis, but they should give up their guns and seek power through elections instead. noble thoughts, but a brutal battle rages across this fractured land, and for yemenis, a battle simply to survive. lyse doucet, bbc news, beihan. willa woman finally create history in india's north—eastern state of nagaland by entering its elected assembly? rekha rose dukru, is one of the only five women contestants for the upcoming elections for 60 seats in the assembly. unlike most states in india, nagaland has been granted a great degree of state autonomy, but naga society is patriarchal, and customs and traditions don't allow women to enter politics. a bbc team travelled to the remote village of zhavame to meet her, and to hear her story.

singing. a man is cooking at home, and we come and see that he's cooking. oh, my god, your husband cooks! we think that the husband is not supposed to cook. i have to break this barrier. i have to penetrate and show that there is a way, and there is hope. when i see other states in india, women doing very well as politicians, we have chief ministers, we have a precedent of political parties, ifeel sad when i look back at nagaland. nagaland can also be one of them. the first general election in nagaland was 1964. and today we had in 2018, and not a single woman is elected in the 60 house. and i think women can make a lot of difference, because i see women have integrated. women are hard—working,

they are honest and i know they will get the job done. an outsider coming here and looking at naga women, they will think, ok, naga women are smart, enterprising. but when you actually live with them, then you will know that a lot of women are not allowed to decide. a lot of women are not allowed to make policy—making. women were happy that i am contesting, but they were scared to encourage me, because they know that at the end of the day they have to listen to their husband. even today, i faced stiff opposition from male groups, especially leaders, because they think that women should not talk politics. they think that women cannot fight, but i feel they feel insecure, they feel threatened by women standing for election. we deserve more appreciation from society. we want acceptance, actually. mejoining politics is not a fight between men and women. i'm asking them that together we can make a lot of difference. a lot of women knows that whatever

is happening to her is not right, but she is not brave enough to speak out. she's not brave enough to say, ok, this is what i want, you know? so i want to tell them to be brave, because we have a future. in press if, rekha rose dukru there. this sunday the red carpet in hollywood will be packed with stars all hoping to go home with an oscar. among them will be maisie sly — a deaf six year old who has the lead role in the british drama "the silent child". it's a short film that highlights how sign language can change lives. and that's certainly true in maisie's case. our entertainment correspondent colin paterson reports. it's a story so happy it could be the plot of a hollywood film. maisie sly had never even acted before her parents were told

about film—makers looking for a profoundly deaf girl to star in their film, the silent child. and now, here are the nominees for best live action short film. this is the moment injanuary when the team gathered to find out if they had been nominated for an oscar. my nephew emmett. the silent child. cheering. yes! and so, this week, they reunited at heathrow... hello, welcome on board. ..and headed to los angeles. most people prepare for the oscars by meeting stylists and planning acceptance speeches. maisie's schedule has been rather different. welcome to hollywood!

although she is having to get used to people recognising her. i saw her on television, just last week. they say she's nominated. do you think she'll be able to get a job one day? rachel shenton wrote and stars in the silent child. she learned sign language after her own father lost his hearing. the nomination means that ultimately, now, we are in over 600 cinemas in the us, which is huge for us as a short film. and it's really important for the subject, which is obviously deafness, and shining a much—needed light on access to education for deaf children. there's meryl streep. her former hollyoaks co—star chris overton directed the film and, at a lunch for all the nominees, they got to meet one of his heroes. steven spielberg was in between me and rachel. and the person taking the photo said, oh, can we move, because the light's not good. so we were ordering spielberg around! oh, an oscar! now all that remains is to find out if there will be a hollywood happy ending.

on sunday night, maisie could get her hands on a real one of these. colin paterson, bbc news, los angeles. directing spielberg is very cool! good luck, maisie. denmark may be in the depths of a cold dark winter but its capital copenhagen is awash with light for the city's first international light festival. a total of a0 illuminated artworks dot the quay, small parks and buildings, with danish elements of minimalism, sustainability and scandinavian design featuring heavily. organisers say the festival is aimed at getting the danes out of the house in winter, to see copenhagen in a new light. that's it for now. thank you so much for watching. hello there. we have seen treacherous conditions widely across the uk, and scenes like this as a result of the heavy snow.

early on we had a red warning from the met office for the south—western parts of wales. we still have warnings of more snow to come as we head into the morning. across northern ireland and scotland, and the north—east of england, frequent snow showers, and those warnings expire at ten o'clock. expiring a little earlier, this amber warning further south, where we have seen the focus of very snowy weather, mostly across hampshire. storm emma has pushed its way northward into the cold air, the beast from the east, but perhaps things would be quite so bad by the time we get to the end of the night, but it will be cold, not as cold because there is a good deal of cloud around and we still have easterly winds. there is a threat of more snow on friday, we have the showers across scotland and the north of england, and more snow

could arrive across southern parts of england and into wales, especially in the afternoon. how quickly it moves northwards, still a lot of uncertainty. it will be another cold day, temperatures struggling to get above freezing, and we still have a bit easterly wind, so this is what the temperatures will feel like. but things will slowly change over the weekend. instead of that bitter easterly wind, we will start to push up something more from the south. this is certainly less cold air, and that will percolate its way north slowly but surely over the next few days. still some cold winds for the northern half of the uk, snow showers around here coming in off the north sea, and we may have a lot of cloud further south as well. still the threat of some rain perhaps coming into southernmost counties overland and over the hills, the threat of some snow, very messy picture for saturday. the winds easing down in the south, temperatures would be quite so low,

but still the threat of icy conditions and perhaps snow working northwards overnight and towards the borders of northern england on sunday. to the south of that we may see some rain, sleet and snow mixed in, but it is not as cold. it will not be purely snow as it has been. temperatures rising even across scotland, temperatures will not be as low as recently, so we gradually lose that cold easterly wind. it will still be cold for most of us, but not as cold. this is bbc news — the headlines: the main trading partners of the us have reacted angrily to president trump's plans to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. china, the european union, canada and mexico are all considering countermeasures. some within mr trump's own party are also expressing concern. president putin has unveiled a new range of nuclear weapons, which he says could evade american missile defence shields and hit targets around the world. he claims russia's new generation of arms, either ready or still being developed, include an underwater drone and a missile capable of travelling at five times the speed of sound.

the wait for the relatives and friends of more than 100 girls kidnapped in nigeria continues. it's been more than a week since the students were taken by boko haram militants. four years ago hundreds of nigerian girls were kidnapped in chibok. a woman who killed her husband has won permission to challenge her murder conviction.