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 to cause disruption. flood warnings are still in place in south—west and north—east 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 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. now on bbc news, our world. in a moscow nightclub, the opposition candidate

makes her pitch to the capital's cultural elite. russian democracy is a strange and sometimes dangerous beast. it's a fake election. it is a fake election? yes, i am always telling that. explain what you mean. i mean like in a casino, when the win is always on the house. in russian elections, it is always on putin's side. so i'm not trying to win, i have no illusions about that. i am taking part to be heard. once upon a time, in the former capital of the czars, a girl was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. when the communist empire collapsed,

it produced an alchemy that turned silver into gold for some. ksenia sobcha k‘s family was among those few. 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. he was the person who gave who gave putin his firstjob. i was a little girl back then. but by a strange twist of fate, nearly two decades later, the girl with the silver spoon would challenge the new czar for the highest office in the land. 350 miles south of moscow,

the city of kursk. ksenia sobchak is on the campaign trail. her task here is to show she can talk to ordinary russians, too. the biggest problem in russia is not freedom of speech. unfortunately, for many people, it is the poverty. out in the suburbs, residents have been complaining they can't get their children into a local nursery. sobchak herself is the mother of a young child, and she's hoping that will help her connect with these voters. well, now she is haranguing

some local officials. this is pretty much the kind of thing putin does when he goes around the region. how do you feel like people react to you, coming, as you do, from quite a privileged background? you know, i don't try to be like, i am like one of you, because, well, it's not true. if i wear red lipstick in my everyday time, why should i go without make—up to them? so i am not a populist. i come in a good car and in good clothes,

but i own this 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, sobchak take things one step further. in russian politics, there are certain red lines. among them, putin and his inner circle. are you saying putin is corrupt? i'm saying putin created a system for those money to get money from the state. direct criticism of vladimir putin seems dangerous, and many people do not want to know. but sobchak‘s journey to dissidence

has been an unusual one. crazy. as soon as you approach people, they run away. but sobchak‘s journey to dissidence has been an unusual one. when money gets into my hand, i spend everything on clothes. it's where my budget stays. it's about $3000—$4000 month. i really like this sweater. in the first decade of this century, as many russians struggled, ksenia sobchak transformed herself from society rich kid to tv celebrity, feeding the masses a diet of reality television and branding herself simply ‘ksenia'. but then the girl with the silver spoon had another transformation. in 2011, shejoined opposition protests and was promptly carted off

to a police cell. alexei navalny, the movement's leader, has long been a thorn in the kremlin‘s side. i was close with him for all those years. we shared many values and we still share many of those values, i hope. but when navalny was banned from standing in this year's elections, and ksenia announced that she was running instead, his supporters called her a traitor. they said that she was a kremlin agent. her campaign just more reality tv. 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 campaign advisers saying yes, we are playing the kremlin‘s game. but in russia, there is always more than one game going on. and that's exactly what sobchak says she's trying to do.

if there is one thing that ksenia sobchak understands, it's the power of television. she is using her candidacy to talk about issues that are taboo. to say this on state tv is heresy — genuinely subversive. shocked presenters have resorted to surreal measures to try and drown her out. but here's the conundrum — the kremlin controls everything — who gets to stand in elections, and who gets to go on television. so what is going on? ksenia treads a 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 venediktov is one of russia's most famous and well—connected journalists. as it happens, ksenia is in the process of making a film about her father, the former mayor of st petersburg. putin, his former deputy, agreed to an interview. so, in september, she went to see him in the kremlin.

and then in the end, and said that, you know, that this decision, i just want you to know that i am going to challenge you. and he was like, silent for a second, then said, well, that is your decision — but it is your responsibility. what you think he meant by that? i don't even want to think about that. i don't think anything nice. and so, the czar decided to accept his challenger. but not everybody was happy. behind the facade of monolithic power, different factions struggled for control. how indeed? how had the girl who spoke out against the czar get permission to run against him? the answer to this riddle lies buried in the past, when vladimir putin worked for ksenia sobchak‘s father in st petersburg. 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 chose an obscure 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. anatoly sobchak was voted out of office in 1996 amid allegations of corruption. while his political fortunes declined, his deputy‘s were on the rise. putin moved to moscow and got a job in the kremlin. when anti—corru ption investigators called sobchak in for questioning, putin personally helped spirit him out of the country. with sobchak gone, the investigation ground to a halt. a few years later an independent journalist in saint petersburg had an unexpected visitor. a man by the name of yury shutov claimed to have the details of the sobchak investigation. he had a dossier, i didn't take it into my rooms, i didn't open it.

why would a journalist not want to read the dossier? the answer is self—preservation. not long after this, shutov 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 days in a remote prison colony. he knew too much. he used to work for sobchak. and because... he was dangerous, when he was free. 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 putin as well. 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 by 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 unprofessional. it's 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 by this. but what killed sobchak? 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. meanwhile, back on the sobchak campaign trail. from public transport to pensions to childcare,

ksenia listens to 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 elaborate theatre? 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. 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 don't 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 herforward. others want to hold her back. who is the better chess player — you or putin? i don't know. we will see in the end. but the end is not near. i am only starting. hello once again. this has become an

all—too—familiar scene across many parts of the british isles but the good news is that in the forthcoming week the cold snap is finally going to really push its group from across the british isles. having said that, sunday starts on actually chilly note across many northern ireland central parts of the british isles. some semblance of mild air trying to get in to the south. don't be full. even here we have warnings about ice on untreated services. as we get on through the day, it will be water showers and longer spells of rain affecting many central and southern areas rather than the more wintry fa re areas rather than the more wintry fare which will become increasingly confined to the high ground of northern england and then the wintry

showers perhaps getting down to lower levels in northern ireland eastern scotland. that temperatures in the south. hello and welcome to bbc news. 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...