that have dig out the sheep by hand that have been completely covered in this snowdrift, a particular problem during lambing season. time for the weather with phil. at last i can bring you the news that it looks like we have seen the very worst of the cold snap, and the next few days the cold will ease off on with low pressure close to the south—west, we will continue to see spells of unsettled weather. that continues overnight, we push this belt of snow, not particularly heavy, further towards the north and into some pretty cold air. leaving in its wake, something milder than we have seen over the past few days. but there will be some issues as we start the new day on sunday, ice is a problem, particularly across northern parts. what really valuable and wintry showers growing from the south—west and pushing further east across the southern half of the british isles and further north the snow becomes increasingly confined

to the hills and further south, some of the grain is heavy. at least it is falling into mild air, a high of eight or 9 degrees. this is bbc news. our latest headlines... weather warnings for snow and icy roads remain in place across much of the uk — thousands of homes are without power. several flood warnings have been issued for parts of england due to high tides and strong winds. motorists and rail passengers have been told to expect continued disruption on roads and railways. three men have been charged with manslaughter and arson over an explosion in leicester which left five people dead and a number of people injured. the prime minister has helped bring together remain and leave supporters, according to the health secretary, jeremy hunt. video assistant referees are set to be used at this year's world cup in russia after football's lawmakers voted to approve the technology. now on bbc news... witness introduces five important moments from history, including a judge's memories

of serving on the truth and reconciliation commission in south africa. welcome to witness, with me, tanya beckett. i am here at the british library to guide you through another five extraordinary moments from recent history. we will meet a south african judge who took part in the truth and reconciliation commission after the fall of apartheid. we will spend time with one of chairman mao's barefoot doctors. and we will hear from a british scientist about the smog that used to engulf london. but we start with the 50th anniversary of one of the turning

points in the vietnam war. during the holiday of tet in 1968, communist north vietnam launched a huge surprise offensive across south vietnam with the support of local guerillas, the vietcong. one of the biggest battles was in the city of hue. nguyen dac xuan is one of the former members of the vietcong which fought american and south vietnamese forces in the city. archive footage: the communists overran most of hue. now they have been forced back to part of the northern side of the river dividing the city. the americans and their allies can't drive them out without knocking a fine old city to bits. translation: the american bombardment was very heavy. we hid underground. when we came out, it was like standing on the moon. there was complete destruction.

that is how fierce it was. of course, facing death, we were scared. when we were about to shoot, some were so afraid they even wet themselves. but once the bullets were fired, everyone disregarded death. nobody cared any more. we just tried to find ways to make our death glorified and beautiful, instead of dying instead of dying in fearordisgrace. the politbureau in north vietnam had decided to launch a general offensive and general uprising everywhere in south vietnam, on the 31st of january, 1968. it was the lunar holiday of tet, normally a time of truce. in hue, we — the vietcong — entered the city with ease and encountered no major resistance. hue's local residents

were also caught by surprise. they woke up to see us roaming freely in the city. it was because our plan was carried out in absolute secrecy. the counter—attack by the americans and their allies was so fierce, it was probably the toughest one in the vietnam war. in all other places, including saigon, our vietcong attacks failed quickly, within a few days. but the offensive in hue lasted for more than 20 days, thanks to the local residents' support. during the tet offensive, i felt the kiss of death five times. once, a mortar was fired towards our position one time, and it burned my hair as it went past me, the piece of shrapnel. any closer, i would have been dead. we were exposed

by being in the city. we were not able to resist the american firepower. when we drew back into the jungle, we had suffered great losses. archive footage: the cost in civilian suffering has been terrible. it was made clear the paradox of the present forumal for winning the war to win back control in hue. the americans and south vietnamese were destroying what they had claimed to protect. at the tet offensive, the americans realised they could not win the vietnam war with military force, so they had to find a way out. the 1968 hue battle played a decisive role leading to our final victory. during the battle, forces from both sides had committed a number of mistakes.

so many innocent victims were killed, not only from one side. 50 years have passed. it is now the time for the current leaders of this regime to come clean on this issue, to give justice for the victims. nguyen dac xuan, who still lives in the city of hue. now, in these times of brexit, it is hard to imagine, but in 1963 britain was actually desperate to join europe! british leaders of the day wanted to become members of what was then known as the european economic community. unfortunately, there was a problem — the french president charles de gaulle was strongly opposed. our next witness, juliet campbell, was a british diplomat at the time. archive footage: a staggering blow is dealt to western unity in this

council hall in brussels, when france blackballs britain from the common market. # charles de gaulle may be ten feet tall # and think he's napoleon. # but the french wash every three days, on bidets. # so thank god for english men and not common market # not common market # not common market scum.# the british people, who had only slowly came around to the idea that perhaps we were going into the eec, were really very shocked. with communication between countries half a world apart nowadays only a few hours, it compels new thinking along the economic front. so in 1961, the british government applied to join the european communities. and edward heath was appointed. i have just come from making a full statement to the members of the european economic community.

in that statement, i explained that the united kingdom government wished to take its full part in working for a better european unity. the negotiations then moved to brussels. this was the point at which i got added to the british negotiating delegation. the idealism that one found in brussels back then amongst the six was contagious, actually. and i think all of us who were there were convinced that for britain it was very important for those negotiations to succeed. even back at the start, people realised that charles de gaulle, who had become the president of france, had grave doubts about british entry. britain's trading patterns were very

different from those of the six. the six on the whole were trading among themselves. whereas the pattern of britain was much more outward looking. in particular, we traded a lot with the commonwealth countries, and of course they had become extremely dependent on this. there was a lot of worry about where de gaulle's position had now reached, whether he was going to veto british membership. and attention focused on a press conference that he was due to give in the middle ofjanuary. la question est de savoir si la grande bretagne actuellement... he was saying, we must ask ourselves, is britain really ready. i think we knew in our heart of hearts that he was really saying

he was not going to let us in. the reason stated by france is over differences in agricultural policy. that final negotiation, the long room with the british delegation at the far end, the french chatting among themselves and giggling and notjoining the others, it was very symbolic. all of the french on one side, and the fact tht the five who supported british entry very much on the other. former british diplomat, juliet campbell. and now we go to china, where in 1967 chairman mao officially launched a scheme to provide healthcare to rural areas by giving thousands of people basic medical training and sending them out to work in villages. they were known as barefoot doctors. gordon liu was one of them. i became a barefoot doctor

after i graduated from high school simply because i was one of the most educated young people. i did not have any training, any experience, knowledge, in medicine whatsoever. archive footage: chairman mao says the sick must be healed. he has caused a real shakeup in health services in china. every commune, they say, now has hospitals and clinics, providing medical attention where there was none before. perhaps the most striking development has been the training of a vast core of barefoot doctors. they have their farm work to do as well, and their training is limited, but even if you can teach people simple hygiene it saves countless lives. we provided very basic services to villagers, mostly in common cold conditions, infections, diarrhoea, things like that. a doctor described, sometimes

we had to take shoes off to work in the farmland. we were not always barefoot. i do have shoes! i started as a barefoot doctor to not only treat people, but animals. we had horses, pigs, so actually in the beginning, i practised the injecting by giving shots to pigs and horses, not as difficult as humans. of course all the people in the village believed my care would be good enough for them to take care enough for them to take care of their health. because if i was not there for their healthcare, who would be there otherwise? no one. one of my relatives,

she had a problem with her teeth. so then she said, "my little brother, can you do something for me?" and i said, "yeah, let me give it a try." after three or four days, her problem was gone. that news spread to the whole village. the big epidemics have been largely checked. one doctor said, rather smugly i thought, that the only venereal diseases we get in china now are from over the border in hong kong. certainly, cholera and smallpox took fewer victims than in the old days. most people in china and many people in other countries like outside of china perceived the barefoot doctor system very highly. my view is somewhat different from that. back in the 60s and 70s, as a result of the cultural revolution, the chinese higher education system

was shut down. but if i could choose between going to the countryside for years or going to college, mostly i would choose college. since that was the only choice available to me, yes, there were some positives. and he is now a professor of health economics at peking university. remember, you can watch witness every month on the bbc news channel. and gordon liu is now a professor of health economics at peking university. remember, you can watch witness every month on the bbc news channel. or you can catch up on all other films along with our radio programmes in our radio archive. just go to bbc.co.uk/witness. next, we are off to south africa which in the 19905 faced the daunting challenge of facing the legacy of apartheid rule. we spoke tojustice sisi khampepe

who served on the country's truth and reconciliation commission. we were charged to unearth the truth about our past. to lay the ghosts of that past so they will not return to haunt us. i was a member of the truth commission and also a member of the amnesty community. south africans face a collective test today. the reaction to these hearings will show whether they are able to expose the sins of apartheid yet free themselves from the desire for revenge against those who propped up a system. the truth and reconciliation commission allowed amnesty only if the perpetrator confessed that they committed the crime. i did terrible things. i did terrible things to members of the anc. i grew up in soweto. it was rampant with security police. it felt like hell.

being in the city required a special permit if you were a black person. absolutely no freedom of movement. i had also suffered as an activist by being shot in the leg by the police while attending a funeral for my fellow students. it was at a graveyard where the police again started shooting. i survived. others were killed on the spot. it is a scar that is a constant reminder of where i come from. i knew the harshness of the system first—hand. yet as a member of the amnesty committee, i had to decide that these people had to be granted amnesty. not because they were

apologetic but merely because they disclosed the truth. that was really difficult. did you then shoot that man? yes, that is correct. people would cry. just by listening to the explanation that was given of how people were tortured. people were killed. what kind of man uses a method like this on other human beings? there were occasions when people who applied for amnesty did say sorry. those were few and far between. but it was extraordinarily difficult for me when people did not even care to apologise. there was no other way other than to eliminate these people. these hearings provided a forum

for those who have been treated, in the past, as if they were rubbish. archbishop desmond tutu was the star of the truth and reconciliation commission. without his leadership, the commission would not have been able to attain its objectives. i think the amnesty process assured that people were not vengeful. that there was proper public acknowledgement and recognition of those who had suffered. we are asking from you to please forgive us. going through a process of coming out from our grief. but here we have the lovely people who are generous. their generosity is always amazing.

i wake up every morning and i am grateful that after all, i am a south african. justice sisi khampepe talking to witness in south africa. finally, it is hard to imagine now but london used often to be shrouded in thick smog for days at a time. in 1952, conditions were so bad that thousands of people died and the government eventually had to act. scientist brian commons was called in to study the killer smog. ordinary fog does little harm. smog, a mixture of smoke and fog, has become one of the greatest mass murderers of modern times. the smoke began on a friday and it was black. it was described as a pea souper because it was a little yellowish. you could smell it.

it tasted a little acidic. and it caused absolute havoc. the levels of pollution were horrendous. you could not see your feet. i remember on one particular occasion i wanted to cross a wide road and i shuffled across and after about ten minutes i did not know where i was and, finally, i ended up on the same side of the road as i started. it was extremely cold for several days and of course, londoners wanted to keep warm. and so they burnt coal on their open fires. the pollution did not rise up, it tended to drift down and pervade the streets and everything else. the smog got in every way.

you could not avoid it. special filtering masks are the latest weapon devised... quite a number of people had bronchitis because of industrial pollution exposure and because they smoked. of course, when they breathed polluted air, this became very hard for them. heaven help the doctor on a night like this... what can you do when records and experience tells you the city's death rate is about to jump. as many as 100,000 people in london were made ill by the pollution at the time, particularly people with asthma, cardiovascular problems. also the very young and the elderly, they also suffered. if you looked at his x—ray you would see plenty.

and to see somebody fighting for air is a harrowing experience. he gasps. trying to get air into their lungs. and, of course, it was dirty air. even in the ward. there were estimates that there were some 4000 excess deaths and there was a shortage of coffins because there were so many people who died. the government recognised that we needed to study the pollution and that is why we set up an air pollution research unit in barts hospital in central london. i was a founder member of that unit in 1955, there were three of us. in 1956, the government decided

to pass something called the clean air act to try and discourage and minimise the amount of smoky fuels being used. new flats without chimneys are part of the campaign... we still had smog but as time went on we had the availability of smokeless fuels like natural gas and oil. without that, we would have been in a bad way. dr brian commons there. that is all from witness this month here at the british library. we will be back next month with more first—hand accounts of extraordinary moments in history. for now, from me and the rest of the team, goodbye. welcome along to the latest look on

what is left of the weekend weather prospects. we will give you a heads up prospects. we will give you a heads up on what is to come, given what we have gone through, you will be relieved to hear that the cold snap is showing signs of easing but with this area of low pressure not1 million miles away for the next three days at the least, i'm afraid it will stay unsettled. sunshine in short supply, no doubt. at least, given the dominance of that area of low pressure, rather than the scandinavian high—pressure and fed

in that cold air over the past week 01’ in that cold air over the past week orso, in that cold air over the past week or so, temperatures slowly will gradually rise across all parts of the british isles. these scenes will become but a memory, at least some people have had the opportunity of rather than slogging through the still drifts but enjoying what that snow can bring. overnight, we will find more snow gradually easing his way out of the midlands and the heart of wales, further north, this is an area of continuous snow. not particularly heavy but it will add to those accumulation is an further snow showers ahead of that on a cold night across northern parts. the first signs are that milder air already tucking into the southern counties of england and wales. you should be aware that if you are on the move first up on sunday morning, who could be a problem on untreated surfaces with ice. especially across the northern part of britain. through the morning and into the afternoon, the showers will be

watery rather than wintry across the south—west, transferring east, and further north, a matter of snow for the most part but slowly through the course of the day, with temperatures picking up already, you will find the snow levels rising. the sporting fixtures, such as they are, man city versus chelsea, there shouldn't be a massive issue, temperatures around 6 degrees or so. we will find those temperatures lifting during the course of the week, that unsettled look, feeling less cold and the risk of snow will become confined to the hills and there you will see eventually double figures prevailing across the southern half of britain, temperatures on the up even further north... this is bbc world news today. our top stories: it's a change that could revolutionise football. video

assistant referees are set to be used at the world cup in russia. president trump says he will tax european car imports in the latest spat over trade. the philippines government warned her not to investigate alleged police killings but this un investigator says she will not be intimidated. the threats have been misogynist and sexualised but they will not silence me. and on the eve of the oscars — we look at how film schools are trying to cut out gender discrimination.