welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: a new trade threat from donald trump — tariffs on european cars if the eu retaliates over steel. syrian government forces advance into the besieged enclave of ghouta. 100 people are reported killed in the past week. video assisted referees are cleared for international football. they could be used in this summer's world cup. and will theyjoin germany's next government? social democrats add up the votes. president trump has stepped up his war of words on trade tariffs, suggesting he would "apply a tax" on imports of cars from the european union.

it comes two days after he promised hefty tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. in a tweet, he said other countries had taken advantage of the us for years. andrew plant reports. the white hot glow of steel. this multibillion—dollar global industry 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 country... on thursday, donald trump announced plans to levy a 25% tax on steel imports and 10% on aluminium. the current deals, he said, bad for the usa economy. european commission president jean—claude juncker said the eu could retaliate in kind with tariffs of its own on things the us sells to europe. we buy more steel from the united states than any other country... canada, too, opposed the idea, justin trudeau urging mr trump to reconsider. would be significant and serious.

now donald trump has hit back, threatening to increase tax on imported european cars. america, the eu's biggest car market. in a tweet, he said: as yet, there's been no retaliatory response, the press secretary simply saying that no—one should be surprised at mr trump's announcements. mr trump says other countries have taken advantage of the us for years because of what he called "very stupid" trade deals. it's the latest salvo in a war of words over trade tariffs, as our north america correspondent chris buckler explains. yes, the threat of new tariffs has fuelled fears of a trade war but you are right in saying

that the war of words is well under way. countries had already threatened retaliatory action as a result of president trump's announcement that he was preparing to put 25% tariffs on steel and and 10% on aluminium being imported into america. and probably one of the most memorable warnings came from the european commission presidentjean—claude juncker, who said that they would tax the most american of products, including bourbon and bluejeans. while it is clear that president trump was listening and today he bit back, it probably will not come as a surprise to anyone that he responded on twitter, saying that he was prepared to tax cars coming into the us from europe and it will cause concern across the atlantic because the european car manufacturers‘ biggest export market is the us. however, there are many inside the white house who are urging caution because they believe that no—one really benefits from this kind of tit—for—tat trade war. syrian government forces have gained more ground in their assault

on the last major rebel—held enclave near damascus. one monitoring group says they now control 10% of eastern ghouta. disturbing footage has emerged, showing aid workers carrying an injured man into a van, being targeted in an air strike, but then managing to escape. from neighbouring lebanon, yolande knell reports. after days of air strikes and shelling, fighting has intensified on the ground in eastern ghouta. the uk—based voluntary groups the syrian observatory for human rights says the government forces have now reca ptu red says the government forces have now recaptured the areas of east and south—east of the besieged anglaise are 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.

shouting. on what the front and the many sided syrian war turkey says it has ca ptu red syrian war turkey says it has captured a turkish town in the northern region of afrin, at least 36 crew syrian government troops sent to support kurdish forces are reported to have been killed by a turkish air strike. six weeks ago, turkey launched a military offensive in the area to clear it of kurdish militia which it sees as terrorists. our middle east correspondent yolande knell reporting. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. an extremist group affiliated to al-qaeda in mali says it carried out the two deadly bombings on friday in burkina faso‘s capital, ouagadougou. eight members of the security forces were killed and more than 80 people

were wounded in the attacks on the army headquarters and french embassy. the prime minister has visited the scene and described it as "post—apocalyptic". 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 mafia and government officials. the us secret service says a man has shot and killed himself outside the white house in washington. no—one else was injured in the incident, which triggered a big security alert. president trump was at his estate in florida when the shooting happened. 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. var is good for football. it's good for refereeing. it brings more fairness in the game. and, for these reasons, we have decided to approve. var will be used to correct errors relating to goals, penalties, straight red cards and mistaken identity. nearly 1,000 games have formed part

of the 2—year var experiment. tottenham's match against rochdale last week was included in the trial but was criticised, given lengthy delays while the referee reviewed incidents, leading to claims technology is killing the atmosphere and pace of the match. but one of the architects of the new system told me there's evidence that video assistance is working. on sort of clear error situations, clear situations, the accuracy of the referee's decisions went from initially 93% up to around 99%. of course, there are grey areas where an incident could be a penalty, could not be a penalty, and they will always remain grey areas. var will almost certainly now be used at this summer's world cup. however, several premier league clubs are said to be more cautious and may opt to delay its implementation with football's lawmakers, admitting there's still work to be done. i think the communication with the crowd, the speeding up of reviews, the flow of the game, the spectator spectacle,

i think has all got to be worked on, but we've also got to have the confidence to sell it to people. it is a change, but it's actually a small change to make a big difference. football's leaders want to eliminate game—changing mistakes but, as the experiments have shown, anyone who thinks technology will stop controversy may want to think again. richard conway, bbc news. dr kristen wells is a sports psychologist who's worked with women professional golfers and in minor league baseball. she joins us from washington. thank you forjoining us. first things first, how does this change the way that the game is played first of all from a player ‘s perspective, what is this due to the way that they approach the game? perspective, what is this due to the way that they approach the game7m depends on the player and it depends on, in whose favour the call goes. so the team that the call is in favour of, it will certainly always

be happy and the 10th of august against will not be so happy. the issueis against will not be so happy. the issue is the momentum. you know, if a team is in the zone and suddenly, we are going to go to instant replay or var as it is called, then you lose the momentum. but, again, if the call goes in favour of the team, the call goes in favour of the team, the momentum lost isn't going to be such a big deal. the other ten however you could actually be even further detriment to them. —— team. in terms of for example rugby union, but no if you are knowing how it works, being american, forgive me, but with rugby union they use to having a video assistant referee and it is part of the game as they get on with it. right. yet in the states if you look at american football, it is in such a big deal because it has been around for decades. major league baseball just implemented

been around for decades. major league baseballjust implemented it and so they have been fortunate, they got to learn from american football and so, the implementation of it hasn't been so bad, or at least from the perspective of players and officials, it has not been a bad thing at all. it takes time, fans will have to get used to it, players will have to get used to it, players will have to get used to it, certainly officials will have to get used to be but overall it is probably a good thing. what is this do for the way that the game is perceived because people say that basically if you get rid of human error, there will be nothing to talk about. but i'm not so sure fans were on the losing side agree with that! i think there will always be human error. you know, it is... you lose a little bit of the human aspect of it, probably, is that a good thing? probably not. from a psychological

perspective, you know, i personally would not say i would hate to see you lose the human piece of it if you lose the human piece of it if you look at the benefits of using it, so, for example, officials, we no research was done and what they found was that with video replay, they went from 93% accuracy up to 98, almost 99%, and how can you complain about that?|j 98, almost 99%, and how can you complain about that? i mean that is brilliant, but the thing is if you ask a football fan that would probably say that the river read it in the call is wrong not realising they are doing a good job. right. but how about the fans of the game, this is the kind of thing which, you know, it evolves and maybe two or three years time no one would remember we are having the conversation. right, correct. i

think, you know, given some time you won't recall this conversation at all. nothing from the fans perspective, if we were here, i think there is the diehards were going to say get rid of it, it has in the game, we don't want it. and i think... i hate to say this but perhaps of the older generation. the younger generation are used to it, particularly here in the us, they are used to instant replay, it has been around for a long time, especially with full all, so three, four years down the road, i suspect that those bare in europe and other countries will not even be having this conversation at all —— football. wonderful. other than" you remember when...?" football. wonderful. other than" you remember when. . . ?" do you remember when var robran full or? i am just being facetious. stay with us on bbc news.

still to come: could the techniques of ancient mayans save guatemala from the curse of plastic? weavers work to end the country's waste problem. first, the plates slipped gently off the restaurant tables, then suddenly the tables, the chairs and people crashed sideways and downwards, and it was just a matter of seconds as the ferry lurched on her side. the hydrogen bomb. on a remote pacific atoll, the americans have successfully tested a weapon whose explosive force dwarfed that of the bomb dropped on hiroshima. i heard the news earlier and so my heart went bang, bang! the constitutional rights of these marchers are their rights as citizens of the united states, and they should be protected, even in the right to test them out, so they don't get their heads broken and are sent to hospital.

this religious controversy, i know you don't want to say too much about it, but does it worry you that it's going to boil up when you get to the states? well, it worries me, yes, but i hope everything will be all right in the end, as they say. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: president trump has threatened to impose more tariffs on imported goods. he's tweeted that if the eu increases barriers for american companies, then the us will apply a tax on eu cars. a british—based monitoring group says pro—government forces in syria have recaptured about 10% of the rebel—held enclave of eastern ghouta outside damascus. votes are being counted in germany after a 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 the five months of political deadlock which 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 lorry. on board, hundreds of thousands of ballot papers. that, one way or another, will decide the immediate future of the nation. keeping an eye 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 to us to make these difficult times a success. and, it is up to us to find answers for our 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 for angela merkel and the country she leads, there is a lot riding on this vote. tim allman, bbc news. another country that may soon have to confront weeks of coalition

talks is italy. the polls open there in a few hours' time as people vote for a new government. immigration and high youth unemployment have been the dominant issues of the campaign. polls suggest the former prime minister silvio berlusconi's centre—right alliance could emerge as the largest bloc in a hung parliament. joining me live from boston, massachusetts, isjulia ebner. she's a fesearch fellow at the london—based institute for strategic dialogue, who have been monitoring far—right activity in the run—up to the election. thank you forjoining us. just explain to us what form this far right activity is taking? we have seen italian extreme right groups mobilising across the country but also joining mobilising across the country but alsojoining up mobilising across the country but also joining up and mobilising across the country but alsojoining up and collaborating with international far right groups, to influence the election outcome in

favour of far right parties, particular lega nord. they have especially mobilised in the online space, the online discourse, co—ordinating their activity in private messaging groups to then push it out into the mainstream. is this people on their facebook accounts or their twitter feeds, sea and content from these groups? is that how it works? —— seeing content. yes. they begin by recruiting more people into their private messaging groups on some of the messaging boards, and then they could water mate and share their resources to carry out what we call influence operations. —— co—operate and share. some of these groups are fairly fringe groups. they are not

particularly influential in the grand scheme of things. what effect do they have on the overall discourse of the politics? that is something we have seen in previous elections. we closely followed the german election campaign, looking at campaigns byfar german election campaign, looking at campaigns by far right extremist in germany, and they had a tremendous impact on setting the online discourse and influencing the political topics picked up worse by the media but then also in debates between politicians. —— picked up by the media. so we are seeing them increasingly shaping the discourse in elections, getting them into the top trends on social media by tricking the algorithms. top trends on social media by tricking the algorithmslj top trends on social media by tricking the algorithms. i am interested in where these groups come from. you talk about an international coalition of far right groups. wearout they from? we are talking about the italian elections at the moment, at what other countries get involved ?

at the moment, at what other countries get involved? it is interesting. the conversations started, the recruitment conversation started in english. as soon as they were taken to encrypted messaging they were in italian. so most of the groups are italian, but they were sharing materials and copying tactics that we have seen from the alt—right in the united states. they also use the same vocabulary and call themselves the italian alt—right. vocabulary and call themselves the italian alt-right. is this the kind of thing which we should just expect will happen from now on in elections across europe? yeah, i think this is something where we are starting to see a pattern where we are also monitoring the french, dutch, german and austrian elections, and they seem to be getting more sophisticated with every election, and especially the outcome of the us election, the victory of donald trump, emboldened these groups and

taught them, in a way, that knowledge sharing on a global level can have a big impact. do mainstream politicians know what is happening? ido politicians know what is happening? i do not want to say they are being hijacked, but do they realise they are being nudged or influence to a certain extent? do they even care? for the far right politicians, they are for the far right politicians, they a re clearly for the far right politicians, they are clearly having converging interest. —— interests. they would at least be a level of awareness that we can assume among these politicians, because their campaigns and their propaganda is being shared ona and their propaganda is being shared on a massive level by extreme right—wing activists. in the german election, we saw some of the german members of afd involved in some of these campaigns, collaborating with these campaigns, collaborating with the extreme right activists. so this is something we try to find out more

about for the italian case. thank you. that was julia about for the italian case. thank you. that wasjulia ebner. in guatemala, various local initiatives are underway to reduce plastic pollution in the country. a study has reported that guatemalans use one billion plastic bags per month. virginia langeberg has the story. francisco is doing what he can to try to turn around guatemala's plastic pollution problem. using mayan fabric to make reusable cotton bags and weave a new way forward for local communities. it is lengthy work, all done by hand. but for francisco, and for the bigger picture, the payoff is worth it. translation: when we work the land, we find plastic axe covering the seeds, and the seats do not grow. ——

plastic bags. it is a disaster.m is difficult to quantify the scale of the problem but one local university study reported that guatemala ands were using 1 billion plastic bags monthly. —— million. guatemala ands were using 1 billion plastic bags monthly. -- million. we are being very moderate with a number but we know it is a problem that affects us all. it is the equivalent of filling our local lake five times over with the number of plastic bags used each month. some guatemalan communities have now and the use of plastic bags. at these markets, the conscious changes can be seen, with locals using banana leaves to wrap food, and others replacing plastic cups with cardboard. each change helping to tailor a new future with less pollution. here in the uk, pubs will be allowed to stay open late to celebrate the wedding of prince harry, the fifth in line to the throne.

the uk home secretary, amber rudd, said the royal wedding, when harry will marry the american actress meghan markle, was a chance for communities to join together and celebrate. accordingly, bars in england and wales can remain open until 1:00am both on the eve of the festivities and on the day itself, may 19. a reminder of our top story. president trump has threatened in a tweet to impose additional tariffs on cars imported from europe. it follows the eu's promise to retaliate if the us imposes tariffs on steel. mr trump wants to tackle the american trade deficit, but some of his advisers are understood to be urging caution. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @nkemifejika. 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. this is bbc news. the headlines: president trump has threatened, in a tweet, to impose additional tariffs on cars imported from europe. it follows the eu's promise to retaliate if the us imposes tariffs on steel.

mr trump wants to tackle the american trade deficit, but 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 var. 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 recaptured about 10% of the rebel—held enclave of eastern ghouta outside damascus. more than 100 civilians have been killed in eastern ghouta since the united nations security council called for a ceasefire one week ago. milder temperatures are on the way for many parts of the country but the past week's extreme conditions are continuing