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... 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. 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 on the ground in eastern ghouta has recently intensified, and the uk—based monitoring group the syrian observatory will for human rights says that government forces have now recaptured two areas of the east and south—east of the besieged enclave, where 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 another front in the many—sided syrian war, turkey says it has captured a kurdish town in the northern region of afrin. at least 36 pro—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. you can get more on all our stories by going to the bbc news website. there's full background and analysis, plus video and audio content. go to bbc.com/news. stay with us here on bbc news, still to come: on the eve of the oscars, we speak to the next generation of film makers about their fightback against sexual harassment in the movie industry. 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. the freezing conditions have been a challenge for people across the uk, but they've also inspired many examples of community spirit. jon kay reports now from north devon, which has also seen particularly heavy snow falls. this is the a39, now being cleared one scoop at a time. miles of snow have to go to free this part of devon. we need to dig through to get the roads open again.

volunteers are helping council and highway staff on exmoor so supplies can come in and villagers can get out. what's happened here is that the high winds have brought all this snow in off the moors and it's basically become trapped on the road by the high trees and the bushes and it can't go anywhere. it can't get away. compare it, look, with the hills at the side. there, the snow has pretty much 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 sort of circumstances. there is so much to do. the nearest town, lynton, is another four miles on from here. look at the size of it! today, some of its 1,100 trapped residents sent us videos showing what they're having to cope with. it's not easy!

we've run out of milk, we're running out of nappies. i've got three grandchildren that are in nappies and my daughter's struggling. across exmoor, in extreme conditions, communities have told us how they're helping one another. a school giving all its food to a care home. we've all been talking to each other and working together as a team. in parracombe, linda is clearing neighbours' drives, resilience in remote communities. what you do is put an appeal on the village facebook site and somebody will come up to the door and help you out if you're really stuck. imean... so what have you had? well, it's always nice getting some potatoes when you're short of potatoes, isn't it? at the fox and goose, they‘ re running low. we're holding together, but it's not easy and we need stuff to start moving now, so that we can carry on and trade. tonight, some progress — an emergency route has been cleared through the fields so royal marines

can get medicine to a sick patient. now we can hopefully walk forward and give these supplies to the woman who's been waiting all day for her medical supplies. you're busy? we are, yeah, very busy. across the south—west of england, they push on. jon kay, bbc news, exmoor. 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. 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 1000 games have formed part of the two 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.

football commentator tim vickery is in rio de janeiro, in brazil. he has serious concerns whether the new technology will work. it is a very bold move, maybe too bold. remember that when var was first introduced, many people thought it would be a panacea, it would solve all problems. wherever it's been introduced, we are seeing an element of rejection. 47% of the players in germany don't want it. they have seen it in operation. they're not happy at all. in terms of the world cup, this leaves us with two problems. one is short—term. is everyone ready for this? is the system ready, are the referees ready, are the fans ready, are the 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 precision in an environment where that may not be possible. so many decisions are marginal in football and precision is difficult. secondly, is there really an interest in having precision? so many people involved in football don't want precision. it is in the interests of coaches to have controversy, the fans love it and especially media. they love stoking controversy over refereeing decisions. my wonder with this is what may happen? is itjust shifting 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 wear black any more. they wear pink and yellow and all sorts of bright colours. but, if you are a fan of ireland, for example, and your team was denied from going to

the world cup because thierry henry handled the ball in the box and got away with it, you'd be thinking, perhaps they could have done with var at that point in time. or if you are an england fan in 1986, you might be thinking that perhaps maradona should not have got that so—called hand of god goal. there are lots of instances where, if you are on the losing side, you want this technology to work in your favour. indeed. there are clear advances that could be made but i'm very glad that you brought up diego maradona and his hand of god goal in 1986 because previously in that game, the england centre—back terry fenwick had smashed his elbow into maradona's face. now, according to the rules of var, that would be a direct red card and var could then come in and send off terry fenwick. it didn't happen on that occasion because the referee didn't see it. would var see it on this occasion? because if the video resource only works in favour of one side then that's not something that's promoting sports justice. this is bbc news.

the 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. let's stay with that story. our north america correspondent, chris buckler, reports now on the escalating war of words. 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. 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. polls in italy open 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. here's karin giannone with a quick guide to the italian general election. italians are electing members of both houses of parliament. 630 in the lower house of deputies and 315

in the upper house, the senate. this time the system has been tweaked so one third of seats are first past the post. that is, the candidate with most votes in the district winds. the other two thirds are chosen by proportional representation, based on the share of the vote nationally. this election sees some new faces and some not so new faces, battling it out for supremacy. the key player is likely to be silvio berlusconi. yes, he's back. the former prime minister heads forza italia, though a fraud conviction bars him from holding office until next year. berlusconi has teamed up with two parties on the hard right, including lega, anti—immigration anti— europe. another key figure, luigi di maio, heads the antiestablishment five star movement. they could gain at the expense of the former prime minister matteo rivotta you's ruling ce ntre—left minister matteo rivotta you's ruling centre—left democratic party, trailing in the polls. —— matteo

renzi's. italian politics is all about whole —— about coalitions. one possibility is a right—wing coalition with forza italia and brothers of italy and some centrist parties. another outcome is a left—wing coalition, the democratic party combining with the pro—european party and the other ce ntre—left pro—european party and the other centre—left party, free and equal, so far refusing the idea of a coalition with matteo renzi. they could be a german style grand coalition between centre—left and centre—right. it is all very uncertain. 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's 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 bags covering the seeds, and the seeds do not grow. it's a disaster. it is difficult to quantify the scale of the problem but one local university study reported that guatemalans were using 1 billion plastic bags monthly. we are being very moderate with our number, but we know it's a problem that affects us all. it's the equivalent of filling our local lake five times over with the number of plastic bags used each month. some guatemalan communities have now ended 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. 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 complaints against 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 ito—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. 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. britain's 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. let's get the what the press packs

now with phil avery. —— whether prospects. welcome to the latest look on how the weather will be panning out across the british isles in the next few days. the good news is the forthcoming week looks as though it will be nowhere near as brutal as the weather we've just experienced. having said that, it will tend to stay really rather unsettled. nothing unusualfor this stay really rather unsettled. nothing unusual for this time of year but 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 indeed into the start of forthcoming week. but while that area of low pressure is around we are indeed looking towards the atlantic rather than towards the continent, towards scandinavia and siberia, where all of that cold weather came from which has effect of so many so very badly in recent days. —— has affected. and the first signs of something a little milder is already there to be head across parts of the far south. not that much further north, though. many of

you are contending with scenes much more like that. there will be a wintry flavour to the start of the day across the northern half of the british isles. temperatures even in the major towns and cities below zero. as a consequence, there will be quite a widespread problem on untreated surfaces with ice. that doesn't just extend untreated surfaces with ice. that doesn'tjust extend to the northern half of the british isles. one of two spots further south are covered by met office warnings. having said that, much of what falls from the skies across the southern half of britain on sunday will be watery rather than wintry. there will be plenty of it, across east anglia and the south—east. further north, the high ground of northern england, further wintry showers across northern and eastern parts of scotla nd northern and eastern parts of scotland as well. just beginning to move away from sea level. no great problems with the fixtures there, man city taking on chelsea at the top of the premier league. the forthcoming week, as i have tried to reassure you already, and you probably need some, is that the snow

will be increasingly confined to the hills of northern britain and things will stay fairly unsettled. this is a snapshot for monday, where we can see further rain close to the centre of the low pressure down towards the south—western quarter. there is still someone to nurse, especially 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 noticing the temperatures beginning to creep up, nine or ten or 11 degrees. here we are, continuing a trend, certainly across some parts. double—figure temperatures on the 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.