announced tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium. mr trump said trade wars can be good, because the us is losing billions of dollars from existing deals. the international monetary fund has joined global condemnation of the plan. the united nations top human rights official says it's likely war crimes are being committed in the syrian region of eastern ghouta and there must be prosecutions. hundreds have been killed in the rebel—held enclave in the past 12 days. despite the un calling for a ceasefire, the violence hasn't stopped. severe weather is bringing chaos to large parts of europe. at least 60 people have died in sub—zero temperatures. heavy snowfall and blizzards are forecast to continue well into the weekend. the severe weather has also wreaked havoc for transport, and tens of thousands of people are without power. let's return to the snow that's brought chaos to much of the uk. amid the misery this week for many — stuck in cars, on trains, struggling into work — there've also been stories of great

heroism and of those who've gone out of their way to come to the aid of others. sarah campbell reports. an out—of—control car ends up on the wrong side of this edinburgh road. a collision seems inevitable. no, no, no, no! that it didn't happen is thanks to the quick reactions of the bus driver. to me, it looks worse on the video than i felt at the time. i did get a fright, but i managed to avoid it, luckily, and then i got on with myjob after that. i totally forgot all about it until i got home and my husband asked me if i had seen this video. he didn't know it was me that was driving. born in balgedie, fife. despite the village being all but cut off, midwives made it to the mum to help with the delivery and local farmers cleared the roads to get both mum and baby safely to hospital. and stranded drivers on the ai in northumberland were treated to cream cakes and muffins, handed out by a fellow motorist who happened to be a delivery driver for greggs.

in birmingham, this businessman paid for 12 hotel rooms, which he then offered to homeless people. you can't expect people to be out in that, it's life—threatening, really. so i just thought, for the sake of £15, £20, it gets a few people off the streets. and stuck in skegness without an event to go to, the bbc‘s concert orchestra offered their services as a wedding gift to fellow hotel guests on their big day. when they started, it took your breath away. oh, yeah. very unexpected. amid freezing temperatures, the warmth of human kindness has resonated. sarah campbell, bbc news. it just warms the itjust warms the heart. now on bbc news, our world. in moscow nightclub, the opposition

candidate makes her pitch to the country. russian democracy is a strange and sometimes dangerous beast. it is a fake election. it is a fake election? yes, i am always telling that. how do you mean? i mean like any casino. the win is a lwa ys mean like any casino. the win is always on the house. in russia it is a lwa ys always on the house. in russia it is always on the house. in russia it is always on that it didn't side. —— it is or is on vladimir putin's side. so i'm not trained to win, ijust wa nt to so i'm not trained to win, ijust want to be heard. —— it is always

on. once upon a time, in the former capital of the czars, eight girl was born with a silver spoon in the mou. —— a. when the soviet empire collapsed, so it was turned into gold for some. ksenia sobchak‘s family was among those view. her father, one of the founders of russia's new democracy, became the mayor of st petersburg. he would later die in uncertain circumstances, while his former deputy, a once unknown kgb officer, would become the most powerful man in russia. it was a person who gave but admitted his first job. in russia. it was a person who gave but admitted his firstjob. —— vladimir putin his firstjob. but admitted his firstjob. —— vladimir putin his first job. but by a strange twist of fate, nearly two decades later, the girl with the

silver spoon would challenge the new star for the silver spoon would challenge the new starfor the highest silver spoon would challenge the new star for the highest office silver spoon would challenge the new starfor the highest office in silver spoon would challenge the new star for the highest office in the land. —— czar. 350 miles south of moscow, the city of cause. ksenia sobchak is on the campaign trail. —— anatoly sobchak. her purpose here is to talk to would know russians. the biggest problem in russia is not freedom of speech. u nfortu nately, in russia is not freedom of speech. unfortunately, for many people, it is the poverty. out in the suburbs, residents have been complaining they cannot get their children into a local nursery. ksenia sobchak herself is the mother

ofa ksenia sobchak herself is the mother of a young child, and she is hoping that will help connect with these voters. and now she is haranguing some local officials. this is pretty much what but it did and does when he goes around. —— vladimir putin. had fillet people react to europe, coming as you do, from a privileged background? you know, i don't try to be like, i am late one of you, because it is not true. —— how do

you feel people. if i wear red lipstick in my ordinary time, why should i take an offer them. so i am not a populist. i come in a good car and in good clothes, but they are is money, i did not steal it. corruption is a big issue in this election for all candidates. after a slightly optimistic welcome at local campaign headquarters, ksenia sobchak take things one step further. in russian politics, there are certain red lines. among them, people, and his inner circle. ——

putin and his inner circle. direct criticism of vladimir putin seems dangerous, and many people do not wa nt to dangerous, and many people do not want to know. but anatoly ksenia sobchak‘s jenny shin dissidents want to know. but anatoly ksenia sobchak‘sjenny shin dissidents has been an unusual one. —— ksenia sobchak‘s rise to dissidents. in the first decade of this century, as many russians struggled, ksenia sobchak transformed herself from society rich kid to television celebrity. leading the masses a diet of reality television and branding herself

simply ksenia. but then the girl with the silver spoon had a valid transformation. in 2011, shejoined opposition protests and was properly carted off to a police cell. alexei navalny, the movement's leader, has long been a thorn in the government's side. i was close with him for many years. we shared many values and we still share many of those values, i hope. but when a alexei navalny was banned from standing in this year's collections, ksenia sobchak announced that she was running instead. proponents said that she was a kremlin agent, just more reality television. —— her

opponents. could that be true? could it be that ksenia sobchak is doing the kremlin's bidding? i paid a visit to her campaign headquarters to meet one of her top advisers, a woman well versed in the darker arts of russian politics. she should be. she used to work for vladimir putin himself. just to be clear, this is ksenia sobchak‘s own just to be clear, this is ksenia sobcha k‘s own campaign just to be clear, this is ksenia sobchak‘s own campaign advisers saying yes, we are plainly kremlin's game. but in russia, there is always more than one game going on. and that is exactly what ksenia

sobchak says she is trying to do. if there is one thing that ksenia sobchak understands, it is the power of television. she is using her candidacy to talk about the blue issues. —— issues that are taboo. to see this on state television is heresy. genuinely subversive. shocked presenters have resorted to surreal shocked presenters have resorted to surreal measures to shocked presenters have resorted to surreal measures to try and run her out. but here is the conundrum: the kremlin controls everything. who gets to stand in elections, and who

gets to stand in elections, and who gets to stand in elections, and who gets to go on television. so what is going on? ksenia sobchak treads a delicate path. before she set out on herjourney, delicate path. before she set out on her journey, the delicate path. before she set out on herjourney, the girl with the silver spoon needed to get the approval of the czar in the kremlin. she needed wise counsel. alexei navalny‘s is one of russia's most famous and well respected journalist. —— alexei is. as it

happens, ksenia sobchak is in the process of making a film about her father, the former mayor. but it didn't agree to an interview. in september, she went to see him in the kremlin. —— ksenia sobchak agreed to an interview. i said i was there to challenge. and he was silent for a second, then said, well, that is your decision. but it is your responsibility. what you think you by that? i don't even want to think about that. i don't think anything nice. and so the czar decided to accept this challenge. but not everybody was happy. behind the facade of monolithic power, different factions struggled for power. how indeed? had had the girl who

spoke out against the czar get permission to run against an? the a nswer to permission to run against an? the answer to this riddle lies buried in the past, when vladimir putin worked for me to one's father in st petersburg. —— ksenia sobchak‘s father. perhaps it should more accurately be titled the museum of how russian democracy was poisoned at source. the name anatoly sobchak stands alongside the likes of gorbachev and yeltsin. the story of how the anti—soviet reformer chosen and skewer kgb officer as his deputy is also the

story of how factions from the old soviet security establishment have come to be running russia today. —— obscure kgb officer. anatoly sobchak was voted out of office in 1996 amid allegations of corruption. while his political fortu nes corruption. while his political fortunes declined, he is deputies we re fortunes declined, he is deputies were on the rise. putin moved to moscow and got a job in the kremlin. when anticorru ption investigators called sobchak in for questioning, putin personally helped spirit him out of the country. with sobchak don, the investigation ground to a halt. —— gone. a few

yea rs later ground to a halt. —— gone. a few years later an independent journalist in saint petersburg had an unexpected visitor. a man by the name of yuri claims to have the details of the sobchak investigation. he had aid dossier, i didn't take it into my room is, i didn't open it. —— a dossier. into my room is, i didn't open it. -- a dossier. why would a journalist not want to read the dossier? the a nswer not want to read the dossier? the answer is self reservation. not long after this, yuri was charged with murder. when a judge dismissed the case due to lack of evidence, armed officers burst into the courtroom and rearrested him. he ended his daysin and rearrested him. he ended his days in a remote prison colony. he knew too much. he used to work for sobchak. and because... he was dangerous, when he was three. but sobchak was already out of the picture. why was he still dangerous?

he was dangerous to someone around sobchak, someone who was very close to sobchak. i suspect that he was dangerous to fit in as well. -- dangerous to fit in as well. -- dangerous to fit in as well. -- dangerous to putin. in the course of making a film about her father, ksenia sobchak got hold of classified investigation files. she says the case was cooked up i hardliners to discredit her father. but she does confirm for the first time that vladimir putin was questioned as part of the investigation. all those interviews and investigations with him, with putin, they look very professional. it isa putin, they look very professional. it is a fact that they found nothing, they were very disappointed. they didn't succeed. in moscow, factions were manoeuvring. putin was being groomed

as the successor to boris yeltsin. the battle was over who would have sway over the new leader. in february 2000, anatoly sobchak died suddenly at the age of 62. at the funeral, russia's new president was distraught. that was the first and last time everybody saw him crying in russia. i still remember it. one of the shocks i had was his reaction. he was totally killed this. but what killed savchuk? to this day, that remains a mystery. the original autopsy was inconclusive, and many were suspicious, including sobchak‘s widow, ksenia's mother. she had her own autopsy performed but instead of making the results public, she keeps them locked in a safe in a secret location. today, the kremlin is still a place

of rival factions. to threaten their power is to take a terrible risk. the girl with the silver spoon is not a the girl with the silver spoon is nota girlany the girl with the silver spoon is not a girl any more. herfamily history may protect her, but only up toa history may protect her, but only up to a point. meanwhile, are, sobchak campaign

trail. from public transport to pensions to childcare, ksenia listens to people's everyday problems as if she we re people's everyday problems as if she were a real candidate in a real election. and the passengers on this trolley bus know all about her family ties. and yet... what, then, is the purpose of all

this elaborately it? if ksenia is a threat to the regime, why let her run at all? i have spoken to a senior government official on the condition i could not quote them by name. isaid, what condition i could not quote them by name. i said, what is the point of having an election when everybody acknowledges only one person can win? they said, look, this is a western invention that you have. we do have a classical democracy in russia. we have what is called a developing democracy. the truth is, russian democracy has stopped developing. it is frozen. paralysed by two certain facts: just as surely as putin will win the next election, he will also not be around forever. behind the walls of the kremlin,

powerful people are playing games. ksenia sobchak is a pawn. some factions are pushing forward. 0thers wa nt to factions are pushing forward. 0thers want to hold her back. the girl with the silver spoon knows all this. but she thinks the pawn just might become queen. that is my chess game. i'd play this option of going to elections, because i was thinking that i had the chance of going through, because of my name, because they underestimate me, because i

have a past which they can always put on me, because they are not afraid of me as much as a alexei navalny. who is the better chessplayer, you were president putin? i don't know. we will see in the end. but the end is not me. i am only starting. —— the end is not near. hello again. there is not as much snow falling now and attention turns to the icy conditions. it is still quite treacherous out there for many of us. gradually over the weekend we should slowly see it turn milder, less cold from the south. there will still be a wintry mix of rain, sleet and some snow. that really cold air with high pressure across scandinavia and siberian winds, that has moved away. instead, our weather will be coming in from areas of low pressure spinning to the south of the uk.

ahead of that we still have the cold easterly wind for a while across scotland but gradually we will replace it with something a little less cold from the south or south—west. but still bring a wintry mix nevertheless. that is what we have at the moment. it is still cold out there, still frosty at the moment with a widespread frost and given the snow cover and some snow falling in places as well as that earlier freezing rain it will be very icy indeed. as we move through saturday there is still snow falling for awhile across northern england and northern ireland. that peters out. north of that, snow showers in scotland on that cold easterly wind. the winds are lighter to the south with some sunshine and wet

weather developing in the south. focused towards the south—west and into wales, mostly rain but some snow over the hills of wales. at least those temperatures are just getting above freezing. still cold but possibly six or seven across southern parts of england. this is where we have the focus of the wettest weather on saturday evening. rain for the most part but there will be snow over the hills of wales, developing through the midlands over the peak district and onto the pennines as that wetter weather moves north. we still have some cold air around, maybe some frost and some icy patches are quite likely as well. that wintry mix of rain, sleet and mostly hill snow across northern england will move slowly northwards into southern scotland, still some snow showers in the far north of the country. to the south, a bit of sunshine perhaps but not lasting long because we will get these areas

of heavy rain developing across parts of wales and then a little snow over the high ground. it is mostly rain. quite heavy in fact. temperatures are about eight or nine degrees. the northern half of the uk reaching for five, not warm but better than it has been. these weather fronts continue to push their way northwards. sunshine, but also some showers. this is bbc news. our top stories: underfire: president trump's plan to impose tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium is condemned by trading partners, including canada. the integrated nature of our supply chains means that there will be significant disruption. in canada, obviously, but also in the united states. war crimes are being committed on syrian civilians in eastern ghouta, says the un. it calls for those responsible to be prosecuted. final campaign rallies take place before sunday's vote in an italian election campaign marred by clashes between anti—fascist and far—right groups. and snow blizzards bring chaos across europe.

at least 60 people have died in sub—zero temperatures.