hello and welcome to bbc news. president trump has further raised the prospects of a trade war, after threatening to apply a tax on imports of cars from the european union. mr trump's comments came after he promised to impose hefty tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. andrew plant reports. the white hot glow of steel, this multibillion—dollar global industry has sparked heated threats of trade ta riffs has sparked heated threats of trade tariffs and friction between the us and europe. it's disgraceful. and when it comes to a time when our... on thursday, donald trump announced plans to levy a 25% tax on steel imports and 10% on aluminium. the current deals he said, after the us are economy. the eu could retaliate in kind with tariffs on its own in

things they import from the us. canada, too, a post the idea. justin trudeau urging mr trump to reconsider. significant and serious. now donald trump has hit out, threatening to increase tax on imported european cars. america, the eu's biggest car market. in a tweet said... as yet, there has been no retaliatory response. the press secretary saying that no one should be surprised at mr trump of mac announcements. —— mr trump's announcements. in one of the biggest shake—ups in football for years, it appears the world cup in russia

will use video technology, to assist referees. the system, known as var, lets referees review controversial incidents such as disputed goals or penalties. the body which sets the rules for world football has voted to approve it after a series of top—level trials — even though some of the decisions have proved controversial. here's our sports news reporter richard conway. from diego maradona's hand of god to injustice in the biggest games. football has long opposed technology to help officials make the important decisions. but after an historic vote all that has changed. video assisted referees or var as it's known, finally given the go—ahead. one of the architects of the new system told me

there was evidence video assistance is working. on sort of clear error situations, clear situations, the accuracy have to the. ., to it have to the... to it to it a change let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. reports from syria suggest government forces have gained more ground in an assault on the rebel—held area of eastern

ghouta, near the capital damascus. once again, no aid was delivered during the daily five—hour humanitarian ceasefire there — and no civilians made it out. president assad's ally russia says rebels have prevented civilians from leaving. the rebels deny this. in germany, votes by members of the social democrats are being counted to decide whether the party should join a grand coalition. chancellor angela merkel‘s christian democrat union has already voted in favour of a renewal of the coalition. if the social democrats also approve, it will end five months of political deadlock. the funeral has taken place in slovakia of the murdered investigative journalist, jan kuciak. hundreds of mourners attended the ceremony in the village of stiavnik, a day after the burial of his fiancee who was shot dead at the same time. mr kuciak‘s last article focused on alleged ties between the italian

milder temperatures are on the way for many parts of the country, but the past week's extreme conditions are continuing to cause disruption. flood warnings are still in place in southwest and northeast england — weather agencies say coastal flooding is a particular risk, as spring tides combine with rising river levels. here's our correspondent danjohnson. this was the main road across the north of england yesterday. deserted, blocked for more than 2a hours.

this morning, the m62 reopened, and the transpennine traffic returned, reconnecting the main cities of the north. but many other roads across the hills between leeds and manchester are still covered in snow. it's been quite incredible, never seen anything like it. we've had sort of five or so foot drifts round by where we live, the other side of the hill over there, cars getting stuck, including police cars and so on. these are the ice roads of the north pennines. this lane leading to the tiny village of bewcastle has been blocked since wednesday. this morning, local farmers cleared the snow. people here feeling a bit forgotten. i rang the highways department yesterday morning, asking them to send out some assistance as our tractor was stuck in a neighbour's. and they said "there's no way anybody was going to be out our way". i think it's absolutely disgusting. right across the north, there's still plenty

of snow to clear. we don't want any more, but, you know, it is what it is and we can cope with it. when you see the amount of snow here, you get an idea of what this community has had to endure this week. and this is not the only village that's been cut off. and besides the snow and ice, high tides and flooding are now a real risk after the sea threatened the great western main line at dawlish. trains are now able to run again. in scotland, this is what rail services had to plough their way through. we're actually hopeful of a near—normal service tomorrow which will set everything up for people going back to work on monday morning. the weather caused problems across wales, too. hundreds of homes were without power and leaking boilers added to the misery for some. all the bedding's all damaged.

the bed itself is all gone — it's soaking wet. the carpets are saturated. in a few places, people stocking up on essentials has left supermarkets short of supplies. more snow is possible in some areas tomorrow. back in bewcastle, there are signs of warmer climes. the long, slow thaw has started but with flood warnings in place from the south—west to the north—east, more problems could still come. danjohnson, bbc news in cumbria. three men have been charged with manslaughter and arson following an explosion in leicester last sunday. five people were killed, and several more injured, in the blast, in the hinkley road area of the city. a supermarket and the flat above it were demolished. let's get more now on our story that video assistant referees are set to be used at this year's football world cup in russia after the game's lawmakers unanimously approved the use of the technology. tim vickery is in rio dejaneiro.

iam i am ridiculously excited about speaking to you, tim. as i am about speaking to you, tim. as i am about speaking about the world cup. will it work? luna it might be too bold. remember when var the referee was first introduced, many people thought it would be a panacea and solve all problems. —— it might be too bold. we are seeing an element of rejection. 47% of the players in germany don't want it. they have seen it in operation. they are not happy at all. in terms of the world cup, this leaves us with two problems. one is short—term. is eve ryo ne problems. one is short—term. is everyone ready for us? are the referee is ready, other players ready? i think the answer in many cases may have to be no. there is also a longer term, more conceptual problem in that this introduction of var is an attempt to introduce a

system in an environment where that may not possible —— may not be possible. so many sit —— decisions are marginal in football and precision is difficult. secondly, if there really an interest in having precision? so many people involved in football don't want precision. it is in the interest of coaches to have controversy, the fans love it and especially media. they love stoking controversy and especially media. they love stoki ng controversy over and especially media. they love stoking controversy over referee decisions. what may happen? it shifts the area of controversy. instead of swearing at the man in black in the middle of the field, people will be swearing at the man in the video box. except they don't just web lack any more. they wear pink and yellow and all sorts of bright colours. if you are a fan of ireland, for example, and your team was denied from going to the world cup because of the handling of the

ball in the box. you are thinking, perhaps they could have done with var at that point in time. if you are an england ban in 1986, you might be thinking that perhaps diego maradona might not have got that hand of god goal. indeed. there are clear advances that could be made but i'm very glad that you brought up but i'm very glad that you brought up diego maradona and their hand of god goal in 1986 because previously in that game, the england and centre—back terry fenech had slapped his elbow into diego maradona's face. according to the rules of var, that would be a direct red card and var could then come in and send off terry fenech. it didn't happen on that occasion because the referee didn't see it. would far see it on this occasion? if the video resource only works in favour of one side and thatis only works in favour of one side and that is not something that is promoting sports justice. that is not something that is promoting sportsjustice. so many

things we could talk about but we will never have enough time to address it all. thank you. in germany — votes are being counted in the poll of members of the social democrats on whether the party should join a grand coalition. officials say participation has been very high. chancellor angela merkel‘s christian democrat union has already voted in favour. if the social democrats also approve, it will end five months of political deadlock that have followed september's vote. the result will be announced in a few hours time as the bbc‘s tim allman reports. never in the history of german politics has so much attention been devoted to the contents of one rather unremarkable worry. on board, hundreds of thousands of ballot papers. that, one way or another, will decide the immediate future of the nation. keeping a night on proceedings, the social democrats acting chairman and the party's leader in the bundestag. both

nervously awaiting the verdict of their membership. translation: we already know there was a high level of participation so we hope we can lay a good foundation for the renewal of the spd and at the same time assess the implications of the result once we have it. angela merkel's party has already voted to renew the grand coalition, hoping to end nearly five months of deadlock. translation: it's up to us to have the will to shape our country. it's up the will to shape our country. it's up to us to make these difficult times a success. and, it is up to us to find answers to a party. i hope we can succeed together and i'm optimistic because i think we can do it despite the difficulties. but what happens if the social democrats say no? well, there may be more talks to form a different type of coalition or perhaps a minority government but the most likely scenario would be another election with no guarantee of a more decisive

result. and the angela merkel in the country she leads, there is a lot riding on this boat. tim allman, bbc news. —— vote. a reminder of our main stories, president trump has threatened to impose more tariffs on imported goods. he tweeted that if the eu increases barriers to american companies in the us will apply a tax for eu cars. video system referees are expected to be used in the summer's world cup in russia after football's lawmaking body approved of the technology for all competitions. syrian government forces have gained more ground india's gold in the last remaining rebel held on clade in damascus. disturbing footage has emerged of carrying a man into a van. the days of ben stratton schelling,

fighting has intensified in the centre. government forces have now reca ptu red centre. government forces have now recaptured two areas in the east and south—east of the besieged conclave, we re south—east of the besieged conclave, were an estimated 400,000 people are trapped. rebels, in turn, shelled damascus. more than 100 civilians are reported to have been killed in eastern ghouta since the united nations security council called for a ceasefire, one week ago. gunfire. shouting in arabic. turkey says it

has captured a town in the northern district of afrin. at least 36 pro—government troops sent to support kurdish forces, have been killed in air strikes. and that was our middle east correspondent reporting. the war of words is well under way. countries had already frederick howard reaction as a result of donald trump's announcement that he was preparing to put 35% tariffs on steel and 10% on aluminium being imported into america. probably one of the most memorable warnings came

from the european commission president, jean—claude juncker, who said that they would tax the most american of products, including bourbon, and blue jeans. american of products, including bourbon, and bluejeans. it is clear that donald trump was listening, and today he bit back, and a pulley won't come as a surprise to anyone that he responded on twitter, saying that he responded on twitter, saying that he responded on twitter, saying that he was prepared to tax cars coming into the us from europe, and that will cause concern across the atlantic, because the european car manufacturers' biggest market is the us. but there are many inside the white house who are urging caution, because they believe that nobody really benefits from this kind of tit—for—tat trade really benefits from thi have of tit—for—tat trade ’ " really benefits from thi have of tit-for-tat trade g? really benefits from thi have of tit-for-tat trade b of committee spirit. this is the

839, now being cleared, one scrip at a time. miles is no have to go to free this part of devon. -- a-39. we need to dig through to get the roads open again. volunteers are helping cancel, council and highway staff so supplies can come in and villages can get out. —— are helping council. what has happened here is that the high winds brought all of us snow in off the moors, and they have become trapped on the road by the high trees and the bushes. and it can't go anywhere. it can't get away. a parent, look, with the hills at the side. there the snow has pretty much melted, now. but on the road itself, com pletely melted, now. but on the road itself, completely blocked. people are running low on supplies and i think that worries people in this day and age when we are not used to those sorts of circumstances. there is so much to do. the nearest town, linton, is another for miles on from here. today, some of its 1100

trapped residents sent us videos to show what they have to cope with. trapped residents sent us videos to show what they have to cope withm not easy. we have run out of milk. we are running out of nappies. and we have three grandchildren that are nappies, and my daughter is struggling. across exmoor, in extreme conditions, communities have told us how they are helping one another. a school giving all its food to a care home. we have all been talking to each other, working together as a team. lender been talking to each other, working together as a team. lende -- resilient adeersity. . , _ . . . . .. 77—. we. . , _ . . . . .. . , _ . . . . w va- put on — ,, . , _ . . . . w va- put on fvillagei ' fl . , _ . . . . w “a. then we 7 village 77; fl . , _ . . . . w “a. then we will llage 7; fl . , _ . . . . w “a. then we will try je 7; fl . , _ . . . . w “a. then we will try to 77; fl . , _ . . . . w “a. then we will try to the f; fl . , _ . . . . w éthen we will try to the g and i and then we will trytomoo’ramr help you if help you out, if you are really stuck. so what have you had? laughter. it is not getting to me thatis laughter. it is not getting to me that is when you are short of potatoes, isn't it? at the fox and goose, they are running low. potatoes, isn't it? at the fox and goose, they are running lowm potatoes, isn't it? at the fox and goose, they are running low. it is not easy, but we are holding on. when need to start moving so we can

carry on in trade. tonight, some progress, and route mm: m ~ 7 ,- royal marines can get medicine domestic patient. his makeover that we can go forward and give the supplies to the woman who has been waiting for the day for her medical supplies. you are busy? is make we are, very busy. across the south—west, they push on. i know it isa south—west, they push on. i know it is a cliche, but i will say it anyway, it was the cockles, anyway. scientists in cambridge have developed a new type of mini camera to help them spot early signs of cancer of the are some figures. —— scientists in cambridge have developed a new type of mini—camera e if? . .

to study electrons. now they are adapting the technique to look for early signs of disease. what happens as the tissue becomes cancerous is that you get a change in the chemical composition, and different chemicals have different colours, which means that if we look at the cancer it can go to distant organs like the liver. if we treat a cancer at the point at which it is still within the tissue itself of the oesophagus and has not spread anywhere at all, then we can remove it all and cure it. and that's exactly what happened to jacki. they caught her disease in time and now, she's fine. i knew there was something wrong.

people should not have heartburn for 20 odd—years — well, actually, it was 30—odd years. they will start trialling the new camera on patients in the next few weeks. if successful, it could also be used to spot other cancers before they become fatal. richard westcott, bbc news. as hollywood prepares to roll out the red carpet for sunday's oscars, there's little doubt that the ceremony itself will be very different to previous years. the exposure of harvey weinstein, and the growing momentum of the #metoo campaign, have seen to that. but long—term change may depend on the next generation of film makers. will gompertz has been to talk to young artists and technicians, to find out how they view the future. ijust have to figure out, how do i see this in your... we're on set with a group

of postgraduate students from the highly respected usc school of cinematic arts in los angeles. they are making a film for this post weinstein era that explores how an encounter between a young aspiring actress and powerful male producer can quickly result in blurred lines being crossed. can i have somebody sit in? i have plenty of stories of my own work in hollywood that are in line with #metoo movement. and i wanted to... that's the area i know the most about, so i wanted to focus on the story and the business that i know most about. what do i have to do to get what i want? do you think things are changing? i'm remaining cautiously optimistic. i do think that the pendulum has swung in the other direction and i think it needs to find its way in the middle where we can make some significant change, because right now it's sort of... you know, it's a bit of a panic situation. at this point what worries me is still people being judged

for speaking up. because it's such a grey area. and because you don't want to build a bad reputation for yourself when you're starting your career especially because it's such a financially risky industry to go into. if you say the wrong thing or you paint something in the wrong light, thatjeopardises your well—being. that's the scariest part. yeah. how do you change that? we're trying to figure that out. because all of this stuff is kind of happening as we speak, how long is it going to take to turn the tanker around? oh, my gosh. probably a while. what does a while look like? i mean i would hope by the time that my career is ending that it would be maybe a little

bit more equal. butl... i'm not sure if that's realistic. so you think it's at least like a 40—year turnaround ? i think so. the time's up campaigners won't be happy with that. they are lobbying for equal male—female representation on film sets within two years. that's going to require some serious... action. will gompertz, bbc news, hollywood. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @nkemifejika. that's at the weather, now. hello, thanks forjoining me. our latest look at how the weather will pan out in the british isles for the next few days or so. the good news is the forthcoming week looks as though it will be nowhere near as brutal as the weather we have just

experienced. having said that, it will tend to stay really rather unsettled. nothing unusual for the time of year. the area of low pressure driving the weather at the moment is in fact going to be with us for the rest of the weekend and on into the start of the forthcoming week. at least while that area of low pressure is around we are looking towards the atlantic, rather than towards the continent, scandinavia and siberia, where all of that cold weather came from that has affected so many so very badly in recent days. and the first signs of something a little milder is already there to be had across parts of the far south. not that much further north though. many more of you are having to contend with scenes very much more like that. there will be a rather wintry flavour to the start of the day across the northern half of the british isles. temperatures in the major towns and cities will be below zero. as a consequence, there will be a widespread problem of untreated

surfaces with ice. that does notjust extended in northern half of the british isles, some spots further south are covered by met office warnings. having said that, much of what falls from the skies during sunday will be watery rather than wintry. there will be plenty of it as well, eventually across east anglia and south—east. the north, the high ground, further wintry showers across northern and eastern parts of scotland. increasingly, just beginning to move away from sea level. no great problems with the fixture there. manchester city taking on chelsea at the top of the premier league. the forthcoming week, as i have tried to reassure you already, you need some, the snow will become increasingly confined to the hills northern britain. things will stay fairly unsettled. this is a snapshot for monday. we see further rain close to the centre of the low pressure down towards the south—western quarter.

there is still some winteriness, particularly on the higher ground of northern scotland, elsewhere really not too bad at all as a start to the week. many more of you will be getting to work and notice the temperature is beginning to creep up, nine, ten, 11 degrees or so. here we are continuing a trend, certainly across other parts, double figure temperatures. they are on the way up across northern britain as well. the headlines. president trump has threatened in a tweet to impose additional tariffs on cars imported from europe. it follows the eu's promised to retaliate if the eu imposes tariffs on steel. mr trump wa nts to imposes tariffs on steel. mr trump wants to tackle the american trade deficit that some of his advisers are understood to be urging caution. football's rule—making body has approved the use of video technology for all national and international competitions. it's now up to individual football leagues to decide if and when to introduce what's called v—a—r. the system is expected to be used in this summer's world cup in russia. a human rights group says pro—government forces in syria have