you're watching beyond 100 days. forget a trip to america's national zoo or 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. 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 a spy? and a ten—year—old maths genius in south africa who has become something of an internet sensation. welcome to 2019.

a near washington, a city where democrats have taken back power and wa nt to democrats have taken back power and want to use it. they are refusing to give president trump the money for his border wall, and he hasjust told a mammoth press briefing that he will keep the government shut for as long as it takes, suggesting that the vatican has a wall, so why shouldn't america? this means the national zoo is shut, there is no rubbish collection at america's national parks, and 1 million employees are temporarily off all working without pay. it is political bring the ship. democrats say they will fund the budget and reopen the government, just not with money for a wall. susan page the washington bureau chief for usa today. happy new year. one hour and 45 minutes speaking to the press. did he get lonely over christmas and wanted to explain everything he is doing, including saying he is going to keep the government shut for as long as

he thinks is necessary. he sort of disappeared over the christmas holidays, although he was in washington, but he is back today, and he will be sitting down with bipartisan congressional leaders where we all expect them to make no progress at all on funding the government. is there a peril here the democrats as well? they have just watched him for an hour and 45 minutes, he has a huge bully pulpit, he can command the microphone, do the democrats then get accused of playing politics and keeping the government shut? this affects peoples lives. i don't think any american looks at a big proportion of the government being shut down and thinks that is howl of the government being shut down and thinks that is how i want my government to work. but democrats are confident that the lame will go to president trump. at that famous la st to president trump. at that famous last meeting he had with congressional democrats on december the 11th, he said i will take the

blame for shutting down the government. they are happy to have him do that. and he has done it over a particular issue, notjust funding for border security in general but for border security in general but for the wall in particular. and democrats say they will not give it to him, and it is not something popular with americans beyond those who support the president with the most further. we are waiting for a feed of the press conference. it seems there is something for everybody in this, including some comment on the former secretary of defence, jim matthys. this is what he said. "what had he done for me? how heidi done in afghanistan? resident obama fired him, and essentially so did i." what did you make of that? general matthys is one of the most respected generals, and even trump's fiercest critics were

comforted having him in charge at the pentagon, so for the president to speak this way of a man who has given so much service to the nation, it would be shocking but he has done it would be shocking but he has done it in the past. we have seen people emerge from these difficult times, notjust general mattis, emerge from these difficult times, not just general mattis, but also general kelly, out as well, but i think it is distressing to a lot of americans with katmai general mattis in particular. it seems to me 2019 is starting just as 2018 finished, with chaos and controversy. what are you expecting in the coming months? i think the world changed as of tomorrow, and that is where democrats take control of the house of representatives. we have had two years of unified government, where republicans control everything, the white house, the senate and the house, and that is changing. the president has a gem —— democratic

foil in nancy pelosi, they can control things like the wall and they can launch investigations into both him and his investigation. so however much you thought there was chaos before, it is about to get a lot worse. so what does that mean the democrats in terms of their strategy? things like this shutdown, how do all of these new democrats come in and deal with this atypical president? there is in fact some democratic concern about how to respond, great concern the democrats might overreach and seem interested only in investigating the president. we know from previous episodes including president clinton's impeachment that americans care most about things that affect them in their daily lives. one of the reasons president clinton survived impeachment was because he kept focusing on things like education and health care, things that people ca re and health care, things that people care about, and that is one thing is

that democrats including nancy pelosi have cautioned their fellow democrats to do, to focus not just on theirto democrats to do, to focus not just on their to investigate the president but on the need to deliver a government that helps americans in their own lives. we have got the first comments on the wall of the shutdown from the press conference. have a listen. we thought we had. this is what happens when you try to play things quickly. we will try to turn that around for you. at one point, susan, the president did say it was not immoralfor america to the president did say it was not immoral for america to have a wall, because the vatican had a wall as well. it does seem like this was one of those press conferences that went on so of those press conferences that went on so long, does the president risk saying things that come back to haunt him? i think the answer to thatis haunt him? i think the answer to that is yes, except it has been part of his persona from the start, and those who liked the president like the fact that he is plain—spoken. he

not only talked about the wall around the vatican, he talked about around the vatican, he talked about a wall around the home that barack and michelle obama have, a wall that doesn't exist, they live here in washington and you can drive and see their house down the street if you choose to. the president also compared the wall to the wheel in the way of one of those fundamental inventions of humankind. so this was a press conference that we are going to be parsing, because we need to address the immediate crisis here in washington, opening up 40% of the government. susan page, thank you very much forjoining us. happy new year. christian, we have been forever not even two weeks. did i miss anything? just a little! we have had many

robacks on syria, the defence secretary is out, altogether a quiet christmas. then mitt romney senad turkovic utah, in tomorrow, saying the president's actions this past month are evidence he has not risen to the mantle of the office. he might have an eye on 2020, maybe 2024. he sounds like one of those republicans who has joined a 2024. he sounds like one of those republicans who hasjoined a group, he has written this op—ed in the washington post slamming the president's personality. he likes the policies, likes the fact that there has been deregulation, the corporate tax rate has been brought in line with other countries, made america a more competitive, but on foreign policy clearly mitt romney not happy, and on the issue of personality. it will be interesting to see where that he takes on the ma ntle to see where that he takes on the mantle of summary like john to see where that he takes on the mantle of summary likejohn mccain, the senator who died earlier this

year. do you think will still be in business? the united states might not be able to cu ba's able to cuba's government open, but it can still manoeuvre a spacecraft 4 billion miles. this is the first high—resolution image of ultima thule, a world on the edge of our solar system, past neptune, thule, a world on the edge of our solarsystem, past neptune, past pluto, further than we have ever been. it is a 21 mile high snowmen. it will take until february for the images to come back, but that is a first tantalising image, a snapshot of what we can expect. dr robert massey is deputy director of the royal astronomical society here in the uk andjoins royal astronomical society here in the uk and joins us from bristol. how excited are you by the image you have just seen? what was a dog bo nora bowling pin yesterday has become a snowman today, which was my

first thought. they are slightly unimaginatively calling the two components, one of the ultima and the other one thule. perhaps other names will come to them. it is 45 times as far away as the sun is, it ta kes times as far away as the sun is, it takes six hours for the signal to get to us, and yet you can see images of this quality, and it will be february before we see the highest resolution once, and colour images and so on. over the next few months, what would people like you be doing? what secrets will this unlock about the solar system?m be doing? what secrets will this unlock about the solar system? it is not so much people like me but the people working in nasr on this project, and there are researchers in places like belfast looking at khiva —— kuiper belt objects. an

object that far away is not affected by the heat of the sun like a planet like earth, mars, venus, so on. it is very small, and the collisions happening out there are much slower, so the thing first that strikes you when you see the picture is it isn't like a typical asteroid that is cove red like a typical asteroid that is covered with craters. it has quite a smooth surface, so quite unlike the things we see in the asteroid belt or the moon for that matter, so there is something about the weight has glued together by gravity, what we call accretion, gravity bringing objects together, and less violently than crashing together, so there are accessible records of the early solar system in that. what actually is it? i have heard it described as a world. is that what it is? you could call it that, but that is not a simple question. you could call it an object, and asteroid, and icy

planet, a numberof an object, and asteroid, and icy planet, a number of names. i like world, it is a place you could theoretically go and visit and walk around on the surface with care. robert massey, thank you very much. we are on our way! let's go live to the nasa team in maryland. alan stern is the new horizons principal investigating, the top man on the project, and also jeff investigating, the top man on the project, and alsojeff morkel will grundy and cathy king. these imagers are taken basically with the sunshine coming in from behind the spacecraft, so there are not any real shadows, however as we download more data we will get higher resolution views, and the sun angle will change, and we will begin to see maybe four times more resolution than this image, for instance, and much better illumination, and landforms and textures of ultima thule, so stay with us and we will

give your much better description of topography and landforms in future press c0 nfe re nces . topography and landforms in future press conferences. with the images we have in hand, this resolution is around 150 yards per pixel. you can see that you have a mottled appearance overall, on the landscape of ultima thule. the yellow arrows point to brighter features which are often circular or dot like as opposed to elongated. that is in contrast to the darker regions which the red arrows .2, which often seem to form longer patches or streaks. there is this remarkable neck feature that others have mentioned how it is less red, and did these grayscale images appears to give a higher readout, and that could beat

be due to two processes. they could have collected smaller particulate material, that is often brighter, by the nature of being small, or alter that it could be the consequence... you can see that is a much more defined image than the image we had before. robert, that was confirming what you were saying, no visible craters on this rock? interesting there was a paper out on an archive, an online repository that stores astrophysics papers a few days ago that was flagged up, making predictions of that kind, but the speed of the impacts would be a bit slower, quite a bit slower, so you don't get that violence and certainly from the first images, not perhaps the ones there, that seems to confirm that. so perhaps that is a hint in saying that you can see that it a hint in saying that you can see thatitis a hint in saying that you can see that it is a less violently shaped surface, that if you are able to

analyse the data you get back over the coming months and years, it might give an insight into the kind of chemistry of the early solar system. it will have been affected by the harsh radiation that you get in space. it is inevitable that will have affected it, particularly over billions of years, but in a very different way to the way you find objects closer in. speaking as someone who lost the kids' drones over christmas, i am full of wonderful what they do 4 billion miles away. thank you very much. it is in miles away. thank you very much. it isina miles away. thank you very much. it is in a farfield. miles away. thank you very much. it is in a far field. why does this not surprise me? russia has granted consular surprise me? russia has granted c0 nsu la r a ccess surprise me? russia has granted consular access to an american citizen who has been arrested on charges of spying. mike earlier secretary of state mike pompeo had asked russia for explanations. paul whelan was picked up in moscow last week and the russians say he was caught carrying out an act of espionage. here's mr pompeo commenting on the charges. we have made clear to the russians

our expectation that we will learn more about the charges and come to understand what he has been accused of, and if detention is not appropriate, we will demand his immediate return. mr whelan's family insist he's innocent and was only in russia to attend a wedding. the 48 year old former marine knows russia well and his twin brother david says he wouldn't have broken any rules while there. there is no chance that the russians are making inaccurate accusation. paul is a former marine, he has worked in security, and he is aware of both the rule of law and the risks of travelling in countries that may have risks to travellers. there is no chance that he would have ta ken those there is no chance that he would have taken those sorts of risks while on a trip to moscow, let alone to break any law, but to break the espionage act. that is his twin brother. here to help us understand what's going on behind the scenes is former head of the cia's operations in russia —john sipher. he joins us now from washington. thank you forjoining us. does this fit the profile of what you would

have said was espionage from your days and how you understood it, cia espionage in russia? no, it absolutely doesn't. the one thing to remember is the russians are probably the best in the world at counterintelligence, they are very aggressive and relentless, and so we in western countries who tried to spy in western countries who tried to spy in russia or collect intelligence do so with utmost care and protection of our people, so the notion that we would send some american in that doesn't have diplomatic immunity to do some sort of low—level connection is something that i've never seen and i don't believe that this is what they would do. paul whelan's believe that this is what they would do. paulwhelan's family believe that this is what they would do. paul whelan's family are saying he is innocent, but they wouldn't necessarily know. he is a former marine, he goes frequently to russia. they wouldn't necessarily know whether he was spying or not, would they? they wouldn't, but if

reports are accurate he was discharged from the marines, he wouldn't be hired for sensitive intelligence work at the very least. it comes weeks after the russian spy mariya putina pleaded guilty in the united states. is there some sense that this could be retribution? the timing is suspicious.” that this could be retribution? the timing is suspicious. i think this fits parallels we have seen before. mariya putina was a cold war spy, and three days after a kgb officer was arrested at the un, involved in espionage, the russians arrested a us reporter in moscow. they wanted to do us reporter in moscow. they wanted todoa us reporter in moscow. they wanted to do a spy swap to do their kgb officer out of jail. so to do a spy swap to do their kgb officer out ofjail. so if these people don't have diplomatic immunity, like mr putina for

example, so arresting an american is the kind of thing the russians would love to do. what you set out for us there is the formula as was during there is the formula as was during the cold war. of course the wild ca rd the cold war. of course the wild card here is president trump. that is true. there are ways to look at this. president trump in the past, he often has a difficult time seeing between right and wrong, or he conflates what the russians do with what americans do, when he was questioned in the campaign about president putin being a killer he said, we have our killers, too. so here is the kind of person that president putin might try to put in this situation so that trump believes that it is worthwhile to negotiate with him on this, and he would weigh in. thank you very much for joining. would weigh in. thank you very much forjoining. it does make you wonder how valuable to the russians miss putina is. and it tells us more about her. that foreign office has asked

victims of forced marriage abroad to pay for their own rescue according to the times newspaper. it reports that whenever a british woman forced into marriage abroad has asked for the help of uk authorities, she has been told to cover the cost of her flights, food and accommodation. she didn't have the money to pay for all this, she was told to take out a loan. some 82 women were repatriated by the foreign office in the last few years. human rights groups have condemned the pack tractors. jess phillips is mounting a campaign to change the practice, and shejoins us now. change the practice, and shejoins us now. i havejust seen your tweet. you say that the foreign office is treating these women, who torture victims at the end of the day, much like they would treat a drunk brit was repatriated to the uk.” like they would treat a drunk brit was repatriated to the uk. i think the problem is that the policy isn't intelligent enough. it is the foreign office policy about repatriating people foreign office policy about re patriating people who foreign office policy about repatriating people who get in trouble abroad, whether that is because you've gone to watch the foot ball because you've gone to watch the football and had one too many and got into a fight, or if you find yourself stuck at the top of a mountain. those are completely

different issues to what we are talking about. what we're talking about is essentially the human trafficking of women as brides around the world. those things could should be separate, and they are not. and the abuse these women have suffered over in places like somalia, change to walls, whipped with hosepipes, forced to stare at the sun until they accepted forced marriage. these are people who have been through awful torture. absolutely. there are different sorts of forced marriage. what was outlined in the times story is a harrowing case of somali young women being sent over to be re—educated, but also more what we would expect to see in forced marriage, where somebody is forced to marry somebody they don't know in a country they have never been to, they are often treated as domestic slaves by their new family, and they are often raped

and abused as part of the process, so there's not people who have chosen, not people who accidentally into trouble abroad, these are british citizens who are very vulnerable and deserve our help. what people might find particularly puzzling is the fact that foreign nationals in the uk who might be treated like this into some form of enslavement, the uk government pays to have their repatriated, but it is not paying to bring these women back again. funny, that is the real kicker of the situation, if you are forced marriage from a different country into this country, and you speak up, if you wish to return, and sometimes in fact if you don't, the home office rather than the foreign & commonwealth office pays for repatriation, and not just repatriation, and not just repatriation to send you on the plane, it also can pay for a resettlement services when you get there, up to thousands of pounds can be given to people to start a new life with dignity. why on earth are

we not offering the same to british citizens found abroad ? we not offering the same to british citizens found abroad? you have written to the foreign secretary asking for this to be changed. do you think this is a bureaucratic slip, or do you think it is malign intent? i don't want to think it is malign. i think it is unfortunate though we are much happier to be getting rid of people that we are to be bringing them here, and i think thatis be bringing them here, and i think that is a policy decision that has been made. on this particular issue, though, i think it'sjust the lumping of all people in together, and the government once again not seeing people as people, and instead just putting a sort of arbitrary line that says if you get in trouble abroad, you have to pay to come home. 12 days to the deal on brexit. a new yougov poll today shows 72% of labour party supporters support a second referendum. jeremy corbyn championed the idea that party

policy would be shaped by its members. funny way of showing it.|j think that poll today i imagine has givenjeremy think that poll today i imagine has given jeremy corbyn and the labour party front bench some real pause for thought, and i really hope that it has, because you either believe in party democracy, or you don't. you can'tjust in party democracy, or you don't. you can't just believe in party democracy, or you don't. you can'tjust believe in party democracy when it says what you want to hear, and lots of us have had to learn that over our entire political careers. it's not necessarily what you might have expected. i think thatjeremy you might have expected. i think that jeremy corbyn has a big decision to make, and as we go back into the five more days of brexit debate what we get back, i hope that some solutions are going to come out of that. jess phillips, ever the optimist! thank you very much indeed. so they all went away over christmas made up minds, and it will all be clear as daylight, write? you reckon! we will talk about it a

little later in the programme, but as in the united states, so here in the uk, back to where we were three weeks ago. and we have gone on both sides of the atlantic, and incredibly busy couple of weeks coming up, with the shutdown on usually my side, the vote coming up on your side, i think we carry on with the programme! this is beyond 100 days from the bbc. coming up to viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news today we look at how the global stock markets have kicked off this new year. and more people are going beyond dryjanuary and embracing veganuary. what is that? we will tell you. more to come. good evening. temperatures have

already dipped below freezing in some places, it is rather chilly out there, and it will stay that way as we had through the next few days. there will be some sunshine, but some is the operative word. there will often be large amounts of cloud in the sky, and also some patchy frost and fog patches as well. the mild airthat frost and fog patches as well. the mild air that was wafting its way in in the latter part of 2018 is still sitting out there in the atlantic, but we are not able to bring it in our direction because of this big block of high pressure that is blocking off that supply of milder air, and underneath it, we have a lot of cloud, so it has been a grey day today, and as we go through tonight many areas will keep large amounts of cloud, and where we see eastern and southern scotland, parts of england and wales could see

freezing fog patches developing. many spots getting down below freezing, even the big towns and cities down to —4 or minus five degrees. going into tomorrow, we start the day with a mixture of cloudy weather, some sun but also potentially fog patches which could be dense and slow to clear for parts of east wales and the west midlands. sunshine quite limited, generally quite a lot of cloud, and those temperatures struggling, well down in single digits. as we go through thursday night, a little more in the way of clear sky overhead, the increasing chance of some dense fog developing. as we move into friday, the south—east of europe sees some very unsettled and in places snowy weather, but we keep our area of high pressure which means it stays pretty much dry. there will be some styles of sunshine and i'm hopeful we will see more in the way of

sunshine by this stage. any early fog patches could be quite slow to clear. temperatures on friday, week if you could get stuck under fog, two or three degrees at best. into the weekend, it stays largely dry, sunshine amounts will vary, and it remains relatively chilly. you are watching beyond 100 days. the top stories: it is the new year and the new world of american politics. president trump was the government shutdown could last a long time. economic uncertainty, stock markets have started the year as unsettled as they ended it. coming up: theresa may says the uk can turna coming up: theresa may says the uk can turn a corner if mps approve of brexit deal. veganuary to the taste test.

president trump has not long finished his mammoth press briefing on the government shutdown, making his case for the border wall. on the government shutdown, making his case for the border waltm comes as the shutdown continues into a second week. the president warned it could go on for some time but he touched on a number of different subjects in his briefing. our north america reporter is here. let's start with the wall and the shutdown, the purpose of the meeting. what did he say? shutdown, the purpose of the meeting. what did he sawm shutdown, the purpose of the meeting. what did he say? it was an hour and meeting. what did he say? it was an hourand a meeting. what did he say? it was an hour and a half of the lord and talking to the press, covering a lot of different things. he said the shutdown could go on for a long time. he said he was flexible on the $5 billion plus he wanted to spend on the wall but he wasn't going to

detail how much room he had to negotiate. what the democrats are going to do is pass government funding bills on certain agencies to reopen most of the government. if the senate approves it then it would go to the present and —— the president but he didn't seem interested in those negotiations. he once his wall money first and foremost and he said the government shutdown could continue until he gets what he wants mac. the 5.6 billion approved by the house is such a small amount compared to the level of the problem. when you see the democrats want to give away 12 billion extra, and we're giving away 54 billion in foreign aid. we give money to countries but not to our own country, something else i've complained about and we're cutting it back. it is very unfair. tricky for the democrats. they can diggins but it is going to over start the leadership of the house —— they can

dig in. the president said this is what he was going to do and they will build the wall. that's why he changed course, at the end of last year it looked as if he was going to sign off on a temporary extension of government funding but he got so much pressure from the base and conservative commentators he changed his course. the democrats may be ok with this, it is one thing uniting the democrat base. they don't want to spend $5 billion on a wall. there's no real chance that they are willing to negotiate on that yet. they will want to get through this initial budget and see if it works, and that will get them on the same page. nancy pelosi will have her caucus behind her from the start, which is a win for her. a lot in the press co nfe re nce , which is a win for her. a lot in the press conference, the shutdown, he mentioned a nice letter from press conference, the shutdown, he mentioned a nice letterfrom kim jong—un. there could be another

north korean summit. he didn't miss an opportunity to take a parting shot at generaljames mattis. let's see what he said. general mattis was so thrilled, but what has he done for me? how has he done in afghanistan? not very good. i'm not happy with what he's done there and i shouldn't be happy. but he was very happy, very thankful when i got him $700 billion and the following year, 716 billion. i wish him well. as you know, president obama fired him and essentially, so did i. i wa nt him and essentially, so did i. i want results. is it to the president's advantage to take a shot ata president's advantage to take a shot at a respected 4—star general?m president's advantage to take a shot at a respected 4-star general? it is risky, if you're a member the fallout that came after mattis wrote that sharply worded resignation letter, saying that america which is banned with its allies and that

donald trump needed a defence secretary who would better serve his objectives, driving a contrast between what he and the president believes. there was criticism of donald trump. initially donald trump praised mattis when he announced his resignation, thanking him for his service. it was only after the criticism that he changed his tone. i still want to hear the clip about the vatican because christian thinks it is totally a fair analogy. we will get to that later! stock markets opened 2019 todayjust as jittery as they closed last year. it has been up and down all day on the dowjones. here it is, it has nudged upwards. markets in europe and asia also dropped. the concern is that after strong growth, 2019

may be the year that the global economy flags. plenty of uncertainty but today there was bad news on the chinese economy but also the trade war, brexit coming up, the housing slumps in canada and australia. i'm joined by the chief economic adviser at the insurance company allianz. i imagine the volatility will continue until we get an idea of where the trade war is going. it is going to continue and beyond just the trade war. the markets have lost three anchors. firstly, muller to war. the markets have lost three anchors. firstly, mullerto economic certainty. you've listed some of the facing the global economy —— relative economic certainty. even the us, a bright spot, there is concern about its growth. secondly, you've lost the anchor of central

banks, who no longer support financial markets. thirdly you've lost the anchor of investor psychology. it used to be buy on every dip, but now it is about selling. when you've lost three anchors and you have amplifiers in terms of technical elements, it's not surprising that we've got this volatility and i think it will be beyond the resolution of the trade issue. we didn't play it but in the press co nfe re nce issue. we didn't play it but in the press conference he gave, president trump said that last month was just a glitch in the markets and that they would recover as soon as he managed to do these trade deals. it doesn't sound to me like you agree? certainly there were three glitches, self—inflicted wounds that made the samba worse. firstly, a federal reserve samba worse. firstly, a federal reserve miscommunication. —— made the situation worse. i think it is

miscommunication rather than the wrong policy. the federal reserve did not understand that the stock market was worried, about this notion that the balance sheet is an automatic pilot. you don't want that when the global economy is uncertain. the treasury department reassured markets about something that the markets were not worried about, liquidity of the banking system. markets are fine with the banks. there was a third glitch, shutting down the government. they we re shutting down the government. they were the glitches that made december worse were the glitches that made december worse but it's still going to be volatile. you've got a strange diverges, the fed raising interest rates and yet other central banks are not doing that and then you have the us, which is performing strongly, completely decoupled from growth in other parts of the world.

is that sustainable? there is a reason for that, the us is the only major economy that implement it progrowth policies. whether you agree or not, the vast majority of economists say that the regulation and tax cuts result in short—term growth, so they implemented progrowth policies when much of europe was paralysed by political issues. brexit, the handover in germany in terms of political leadership. many uncertainties. that explained the diverges however the us needs to continue. the fed is the only one raising rates but it isn't the only one tightening policy. the ecb in europe is tightening policies by stopping its asset purchase programme. we have a tightening of monetary policy on top of economic slowing. fascinating start to the

year. plenty of headwinds, as we said. let's look at the charts from the last couple of weeks. this was the last couple of weeks. this was the rundown to christmas. look at that. when you state your political prowess to those kind of charts, it's quite risky. yes, that's something that supporters of the president have advised him not to do, to take credit for the fact that markets are up because what do you do when they go down? there will be some tense conversations between the white house and the chairman of the federal reserve as president trump tries to ensure there is not another glitch one like december. yeah. lots of news here as well. the british foreign minister has said the uk can turn a corner if mps vote to approve her brexit deal. parliament will return

next week to find out if rebellious politicians have reconciled themselves to the deal. the signs so farare themselves to the deal. the signs so far are not encouraging. 12 days until the house of commons vote. mrs may spoke to european leaders but it seems they will not offer much, not beyond what they have offered and why were they when you can't guarantee that parliament won't reject the deal anyway? the strategy appears to be much the same as 2018, watch the clock ticking down and hope that one side links. jeremy hunt is in singapore, a country that some see as a potential model for bricks and —— brexit and he says there are things that they should learn. the uk should not follow the social and political model of a country with very different traditions like singapore but we can learn from their economy, the way they invest in the education system. they are top for maths, science and

reading out of all the developed countries. huge emphasis on developing skills of their people. we're joined developing skills of their people. we'rejoined by developing skills of their people. we're joined by the senior economist. kate hoey wrote that they should forego mrs may's plan and hunker down under the wto trade deal. it is attractive in many ways butjeremy deal. it is attractive in many ways but jeremy hunt did deal. it is attractive in many ways butjeremy hunt did say he does not wa nt butjeremy hunt did say he does not want to copy the political model but it is racing ahead, we don't know what happens to the deal and if it fails, the terms under which it fails, the terms under which it fails will let us know... he isn't just selling the better education system, you don't need to send him there to do that, but he thinks there to do that, but he thinks there is a different way that britain could trade with the rest of

the world on different terms, kind of bypassing the obsession with institutional europe. he's also a leadership not coincidently. difficult not to watch him and not imagine he's lining himself up for the leadership because he is a remainer who has lined himself up behind brexit and now you have the drg trying to choose which of their men they will get behind, will it be dominic raab, david davis or boris johnson. they need to gather themselves together. if the deal fails, and! themselves together. if the deal fails, and i think it will not get through in its current form, number ten doesn't think it will either merely, so what i think will happen they will have this proposed vote in parliament to see whether you get closer to a majority, sort of it's a knockout when you would find out what parliament once and then it will be no—deal brexit. cabinet

ministers think there is a possibility that theresa may will bring it back again and say that this is still closed to do something that can be delivered. if not then the bets are off and you might get a new leader. whether we have one or two votes on the withdrawal agreement, whether it is changed in europe, when they come back it seems that there are three options, a hard brexit, her withdrawal agreement, perhaps changed, or going back for postponing article 50 with the possibility of a second referendum. it depends on the next few weeks, if the deal is deemed to fail but not fail as badly as in december, that will embolden the prime minister to go and have another look. everyone is going to matter about it but she is going to matter about it but she is still having background talks

with the eu and if the eu feel that something can be got over the line, they would take that option. is that where you would place your fortunes? not necessarily because i don't think the numbers are close enough andl think the numbers are close enough and i don't know at what point... she survived a no—confidence vote, she is difficult to get rid of, so she is difficult to get rid of, so she can'tjust she is difficult to get rid of, so she can't just keep she is difficult to get rid of, so she can'tjust keep coming back. it has a head of steam. you reported earlier that there is a growing head of steam i think in the labour party for it. there is a leadership who doesn't like the look of it because they would rather pursue that general election. personally i've not discounted the idea that it may end up in general election territory also. you have to factor in whether the eu wants to keep her in as well, whether to put something in late.

thank you forjoining us. coming up: no more turkey or crackling, no more milk or cheese. increasing numbers of arts milk or cheese. increasing numbers ofarts —— milk or cheese. increasing numbers of arts —— increasing number of us are turning vegan. on the first working day of the new year, rail passengers in the uk are having to embark on a price hike in fa res, having to embark on a price hike in fares, increasing by 3.1% in in end and wales and nearly 3% in scotland. passenger groups have criticised the government for not freezing some fa res government for not freezing some fares after last yea r‘s government for not freezing some fares after last year's disruption across the network. passengers in the north of england suffered the most in 2018. but across britain delays and cancellations have risen to their highest level in 17 years. with fares up again,

some passengers in hull say they're not getting value for money. at the end of the day its public transport and if the public can't afford it, then what good is public transport that's unaffordable? the prices are quite steep i think, really, for the short distance that i travel. but it's easier than taking the car. i spend a long time behind the wheel, so generally speaking its ok for me. from today, tickets increased by roughly 3% in england and wales. in scotland, the rise is slightly smaller. northern ireland's rail system is different and there is no increase today. the government says its happy for fares to rise in line with a lower index of inflation if unions agree that rail workers' wages should go up at a lower rate. i don't want to see fares go up any more than they have to. the reality is that costs in the industry are rising fast. the biggest factor is wage increases. i'd like to see the unions and the indeed frankly the labour party accept that wage rises in the rail industry should be lower and as a result fare rises should be lower. the rail industry says that 98p of every pound spent on a ticket

is invested back into the railways. train companies say record levels of investment will bring improvement in the longer term. but the rmt union describe the railways as a grossly mismanaged rip—off. tom burridge, bbc news. kristian and i like to think we are good at maths, for example we know that if you add one, to 2018, you get 2019 or if you add one presenter and another presenter, you get two presenters. you see, really good! sadly we are massively outsmarted by a 10—year old south african who is causing a stir in the world of mathematics with his extraordinary ability to work out huge sums in his head. welcome to maths.

class is in session. at this farm school the pupils are hard at work perfecting their maths skills. but there's one who stands out. meet sibahle zwan, called the human calculator, he's just ten years old. anyone who knows the answer? sibahle? 540. translation: i'm the best at maths in the whole school. when people see me, they ask me to do sums for them to test how good i am. and they are surprised when i give the answers right. some people even give me money for doing difficult numbers. i give that money to my mother, and that makes me happy. he was discovered when a local policeman filmed him. 250 times 11? 2750. at home his mother may not be able to help him with his homework, but she is his biggest fan. we always dream big, most of the time. with me, i wish everything that could go well for him. i want him to explore.

he loves challenges. 78... and so we put him to the test. times... 550. 42,900,000. what? how did you do that? after a professional assessment, he is deemed a gifted child, but that brings other challenges. he becomes bored easily and needs unconventional teaching methods in order to thrive. professor belinda huntley runs the wits siyanqoba maths olympiad programme. and she wants sibahle tojoin her class and compete with some of the best minds in the world. if he isn't enriched now he's just going to dissolve into the rest of the masses, he's just going to be expected just to keep up with the curriculum. and now admitted to

the geniuses programme, young sibahle finally has a chance at a bright future. that's brilliant! 47 plus 47? yeah, anyway, i've never been admitted to anyway, i've never been admitted to any genius programme. you'd be surprised to hear, neither have i. no... does it take a certain amount of genius? any new year resolutions? i don't believe in them. i never think i'm going to keep them but some of you may have given up booze for the first few weeks of the year and some of you may have bought a new gym pass. an increasing number of people are switching diets and becoming vegan. some 600,000 people in the uk are now known to be vegan

is and students are six times more likely to be vegan or vegetarian and their parents, suggesting this is a generational shift. yeah and the motivations are various, health, animal—rights, climate change, a big issue, and the uk is quite a trendsetter. on social media january has been renamed veganuary. press packis has been renamed veganuary. press pack isjoining the has been renamed veganuary. press pack is joining the trend and he has been keeping a diary —— cress pack. chris packham. i've got an assistant here. let's give the willing assistant a choice between vegan cheese and normal cheese. what will he go for?

yeah... wanta normal cheese. what will he go for? yeah... want a bit of the other one? 0h yeah... want a bit of the other one? oh dear. i'm afraid that was the full vintage cheddar, so the vegan cheese has failed on day one. one interesting comment was to forget about cheese. it doesn't exist any more if you gone vegan. good advice! sadly i don't have scratchy in the studio with me but i have christian, who is sort of the same thing, let's face it. so we are going to do our own vegan cheese face it. so we are going to do our own vegan cheese test. one of these is cheese, cow ‘s milk cheese, and another is vegan cheese. i'm not going to eat on air, so i'm handing

it over to you. go on. oh, that is truly the most... that is awful. this isn't called cheese. not even categorised as cheese! you don't need to do the test. it is incredibly hard to be vegan. my daughter is vegetarian and it isn't the default in the states, it really isn't easy. are you over this now? it is awful. apologies to all brigands who have got used to let! i know we are offending someone who has done this. i think it means we have better options. you have to learn a whole new way of eating and thinking about it when i was watching this, it isn't only peer pressure. if i came to you and said

i was pressure. if i came to you and said iwasa pressure. if i came to you and said i was a vegan, you wouldn't know what to cook. i think it is more expensive. some of you are going to jump expensive. some of you are going to jump on twitter and say it isn't but it seems more expensive in the supermarket. how can it be? you're buying a piece of steak, you've got to replace the b—12 vitamins you'd get in proteins like eggs and dairy, from lentils and pulses and nuts. b-12, from lentils and pulses and nuts. b—12, yep. from lentils and pulses and nuts. b-12, yep. you were here the last night... what are you looking for? a glass of wine? before we go, did father christmas bring you everything you wanted ? father christmas bring you everything you wanted? no, there's one thing i really wanted. this is anonymous, it says happy christmas. always worried me. it is a mug with my mug shots. i do much better out of this than you do. it is very much me. you look like you're chewing a

wasp! it isn't copyrighted. a commercial opportunity. can you see why i don't come to london very often ? why i don't come to london very often? i come here and i and told that i looked like i'm chewing a wasp. see you tomorrow! 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 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 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 showers creeping into the east coast. sunshine is quite limited. a lot of cloud and temperatures struggling, down in single digits. going through thursday night, clear skies overnight. the increasing chance of dense fog developing. friday, the 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 you get stuck under fog, maybe two or three degrees. at best the temperatures in the north—west, up to nine degrees. and the weekend, mostly dry, sunshine will vary and it remains relatively chilly. this is bbc news. the headlines at eight o'clock. i returned to work, and the hiking railfares after a troubled year across the network. at the end of the day of the public transport, and if the public cannot afford it, then what is good is a public transit that's unaffordable? warning that children are consuming

daily sugar allowance by an adult by the time to time. your mac that's a lot of sugar, that increases the risk of waking and tooth decay, and long—term serious like type two diabetes. the home secretary questions whether people trying to illegally cross the channel are actually genuinely asylum—seekers. president trump warns the us government shutdown could last a very long time, as he hold out for