getting warmer. it is all about breaking down the barriers really. loads of us as fans can admire the likes of lauren and the brownlee brothers, can cheer them on from the sofa but i think to myself, i haven't got the training. we are not athletes, we get embarrassed showing up in public. but this, this tri jan, helps people to do it in their own time in their own space to have fun just when they want to, when they can. i want to share my passion for the triathlon, because i can go out with my dad on my bike, i can run with my housemate, i can swim with my friends‘ kids, it is just a beautiful sport. she is not alone. the number of people entering some kind of triathlon event has gone up by 75% over the last ten years. that is 40,000 newcomers, half of them have been women. now this campaign aims to widen the net further. you no longer have to attend an event to complete your 15, 25 or 50 kilometre target over the course of this month. we know that these days it is a changing world and people need to be able to do sport and activity when it works for them. if it's the middle of the day, if it's a ride to the park,

if it's a walk to the shops, whatever works, a swim on holiday, then absolutely you can all do it and it isjust about building up small bits to make one bigger distance. we had only cycled around for a few minutes, but we are smiling with satisfaction that we have done the hardest part and started our journey. that's all from sportsday. you are watching bbc news. a little bit of breaking news from the us, following a meeting between congressional leaders and president trump. holding talks to try to end

the partial us government shutdown that has seen hundreds of thousands of federal workers not being paid for the last 12 days. the meeting seemed to have broken up with no agreement. so the shutdown goes on. mrtrump thinks it agreement. so the shutdown goes on. mr trump thinks it could last "a long time" and he's willing to keep the government shutdown for as long as it takes, he says. the dispute centres on the federal budget which the president says must include some $5 billion for his border wall with mexico. democrats in congress wave they are only willing to stump up a little bit less than $2 billion. no agreement and no truce. the partial us government shutdown continues. health trends are expected to dominate the headlines in 2019 including the use of data, ai and epidemics that may threaten the world. here is the stories that will

matter in the months ahead. data. it's a small word, but it's part of one of the biggest trends changing health care in 2019. with more computers, mobile phones and wearable devices, capable of capturing information about us than ever before. for researchers, this provides a potential gold mine of new information on our health. not long ago, we had about an app made by a subsidiary of google, which collates patient data to help spot people with kidney disease in its early stages. expect to see more big companies getting involved in our health later in 2019. , in our health data in 2019. and expect there to be more questions about how to balance the possible benefits with the risks of private information falling into the wrong hands. at the beginning of 2018, the world health organization put out a list of ten diseases that have the potential to cause havoc worldwide.

pathogens that urgently need more research, more treatments, and more vaccines. and for the very first time, this list included something called disease x, to acknowledge that the next big outbreak could come from a disease that is currently unknown. the good news is that as we enter 2019, the world is learning to be more prepared for a potential pandemic, with new organisation set up to make vaccines for global threats, and even simulation exercises so that world leaders can rehearse what to do, should a deadly disease spread. ebola was one of the deadly viruses on the who's list. a disease that claimed more than 11,000 lives in west africa just a few years ago. it's now back in a very unstable area in the democratic republic of congo. local and international teams are working hard to stop its spread, but their efforts have been hampered by conflict and violence. at the end of 2018, we heard that progress in the fight against one of the world's oldest diseases, malaria, has stalled.

with 219 million cases reported in 2017, at 2000 on the year before. many of the victims were children under five, living in sub—saharan africa. the head of the world health organization said with progress plateauing after years of decline, there was now a serious risk that years of hard work and investment could be lost. but there may be some good news on the horizon. many people have their hopes pinned on the world's first malaria vaccine. after passing early trials, the hope had been to administer the vaccine to thousands of children in kenya, malawi and ghana in 2018. it looks like children will now get their first shots in the coming months. the large pilot project will help researchers understand how well the vaccine works, and just how many lives it could save. time for the weather now.

temperatures have already dipped below freezing in places. it is rather chilly out there and it will stay that way as we go through the next few days. there will be some sunshine but only some. large amounts of cloud in the sky. also some frost and fog patches. the mild air that was coming in over the latter pa rt air that was coming in over the latter part of 2018 is still sitting in the atlantic but at the moment we can't bring it in our direction because this big block of high—pressure is here for the start of 2019, blocking the mild air, and underneath the high we can see a lot of cloud. quite a grey day today and as we go through tonight, many areas will keep their cloud. in southern scotla nd will keep their cloud. in southern scotland and eastern wales we may

see some quite dense freezing fog patches. temperatures, many spots below freezing, even the big towns and cities. may get colder than that in places. tomorrow, a mixture of cloudy weather, some sunny weather but potentially some fog patches which may be dense and slow to clear for eastern wales. through the day the vast majority will be dry, maybe some shower was creeping into these coast. sunshine is quite limited. a lot of cloud and temperatures struggling, down in single digits. going through thursday night, clear sky overnight. the increasing chance of dense fog developing. friday, the south—east of europe seeing some u nsettled south—east of europe seeing some unsettled and in places snowy weather. we keep the high—pressure meaning it stays pretty much dry. some spells of sunshine. hoping to

see more sunshine by this stage. any early fog patches in the south will be slow to clear. temperatures on friday, if we get stuck under fog, maybe two or three degrees. at best the temperatures in the north—west, up the temperatures in the north—west, up to the temperatures in the north—west, upto9 the temperatures in the north—west, up to 9 degrees. in the weekend, mostly dry, sunshine will vary and it remains relatively chilly. you're watching beyond 100 days. forget a trip to america's national zoo 01’ forget a trip to america's national zoo or washington's smithsonian museum, they closed today as part of the government shutdown. and the president says it could be shut for a long time yet. he wants the money for his border wall. it is the new year and the new world for american politics. 6 billion kilometres away, a face spacecraft photographs are

distant object and sends it back to us. and the former marine held in russia on charges of espionage. is paul whelan a pawn or