a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: the latest attempt to halt the us government shutdown ends with no deal. thousands are still without pay and both political parties are blaming each other. apple shares fall — it's warning that disappointing sales in china have taken a big bite out of its revenues. an icy world four billion miles from earth — nasa releases images of the most distant object in our solar system ever to be explored. times 550... 42,900,000. what? and meet the ten—year—old south african boy nicknamed the "human calculator". hello.

in washington, the latest attempt to end the budget row that's partially shut down the us government has finished without agreement. about 800,000 federal employees are feeling the impacts of no funding and no pay. at a white house meeting, president trump showed no sign of backing down from his demand for $5 billion to build a wall along the us—mexico border, an election promise that he insisted during the campaign mexico would pay for. here he isjust before the meeting. as long as it takes. i mean, look, i'm prepared, i think the people of the country think i'm right. i think the people of this country think i'm right. again, i could've done nothing, i could've had a lot easier presidency by doing nothing. but i'm here, i want to do it right. i put it to our north america correspondent, david willis, that there is now considerable political fallout from the shutdown. there is indeed, mike. and following that meeting in the situation room

of the white house, no breakthrough. a stalemate still. president trump insisting on that $5 billion—plus for his pet project on the campaign trail, building a wall along the us border with mexico. the democrats, for their part, are wanting nothing to do with any such a project. some of them actually believe that it would be abhorrent to see such a thing in place along that border. and of course, a couple of weeks ago it wouldn't have mattered too much what the democrats thought about all this, but tomorrow, they take control in the house of representatives, and already, the incoming speaker, nancy pelosi, has plans to introduce bills, which would appropriate funds for those departments that are already currently closed, enabling them to reopen, but would not provide substantial funding of the sort that president trump wants for that border wall. well, as they emerged from that meeting in the white house today, this is what both parties had to say. the president and vice—president stayed here over the christmas

holidays, and there was absolutely no negotiation from the other side. so, they want to keep delaying and have a government shutdown while president trump has said he wants to secure the border. on our last meeting, the president said, "i am going to shut the government down. " they are now feeling the heat. it is not helping the president. it is not helping the republicans to be the owners of this shutdown. david, as you say, a big political change is coming in the lower house, the house of representatives. it's very clear what mr trump's core voters — his political base think about this. this is why they elected him. do you have a sense of how it's playing in the rest of the country? well, it's interesting, isn't it, that a recent poll showed that more people actually blamed president trump for this current impasse than did the democrats, and there is a sense, mike, i think, that by insisting that this budget funding measure be linked to the $5 billion that he wants for the wall along

the us—mexico border, president trump has somewhat painted himself into a corner, if you like, because he can't back down on this now. he sort of did so once before, only to the condemnation from his base, from those on the far right, and he's more or less conceded that he can't do that again. so, it remains to be seen how long this current partial shutdown is going to carry on. and in the meantime, a lot of people suffering. absolutely — about 800,000 federal government workers, some of whom have been sent home, others are working without pay. meanwhile, there are national parks that are experiencing problems, not shutdowns just yet, but certain problems with refuse and staffing issues and so on and so forth. meanwhile, museums here in the capital have been closed and look to remain so.

david willis for us there. apple shares have sunk by more than 7%. investors rattled by a surprise disclosure from the tech giant that it's cut sales predictions for the first quarter of 2019. in a letter to investors apple ceo tim cook blames a challenging commercial environment in china, which has seen lower—than—expected sales of new iphones. the festive season is usually apple's strongest quarter. here's our north america business correspondent dave lee. trading on apple shares was halted pending some news, we were told, and that news came quite quickly. the letter came out, and tim cook went into several reasons why his company is going to come in around — at least $5 billion under estimates for revenue than they'd originally predicted. the reasons were, one, that sales in china have pretty much dropped off a cliff recently, he revune from those sales,

and they blamed increased tension between the us and china on trade potentially for some of that problem. but they also talked about issues with supply chain as well. tim cook said that although apple had released what he said were very popular new products, sales of those products, particularly its watches, laptops and so forth have been held back because they simply haven't been able to make enough, and supply chain constraints have hit sales there. and, overall, the iphone has been a bit of a handicap for apple in this quarter, because people aren't upgrading them as often as they usually do. so, while the iphone is often apple's huge profit maker, people simply aren't going out and buying them as readily as they have done in the past. that is the real driving force behind that, particularly in china, where the problem is becoming increasingly serious for apple. dave lee.

in moscow, the american ambassador has now gained consular access to a former us marine who's been charged with espionage by russia. paul whelan was picked up in moscow last week — the russians say he was caught spying. his family claim he is innocent, and was in the country for a wedding. here's the us secretary of state. we've made clear to the russians our expectation that we will learn more about the charges, come to understand what it is he's been accused of, and if the detention is not appropriate, we will demand his immediate return. scientists believe they've discovered the source of a cholera outbreak in yemen which has become one of the worst epidemics of the disease in recorded history. using genome sequencing, british and french researchers have identified the cholera strain as originating in eastern africa and probably carried to yemen by migrants. there have been more than a million cases of cholera, nearly 2,500 fatal, since the outbreak began in 2017. nearly four years of war between a saudi—led coalition and iranian—backed rebels have crippled healthcare and sanitation in yemen. nasa has released images of the most

distant object in our solar system ever to be explored. the new horizons probe is showing us the small, icy world known as ultima thule, about 6.5 billion kilometres, around 4 billion miles, from earth. 0ur science editor david shukman reports. power. go ahead, power. power is green. copy. power is green. mission control running through checks that confirm this incredible venture has worked. 0ur pointers are right where we predicted. flying right beside the most distant world ever explored. we have a healthy spacecraft. the relief of decades of planning paying off, and the scientists proud of giving us a view never possible before. science to help us understand the origins of our solar system. applause. what this spacecraft and this team accomplished is unprecedented.

here's where we were just a couple of days ago. this was humanity's best image of ultima thule. well, that image is so 2018. laughter. meet ultima thule! they've discovered a strange shape, which the scientists think looks like a snowman. they've even produced this image to make the point about this rock left over from the birth of the solar system. and lift—off of nasa's new horizon. back when the mission was launched, hardly anything was known about the outer reaches of the solar system. it was an extraordinary gamble just trying to get there. it's almost impossible to grasp how far the spacecraft new horizons has travelled, but 13 years ago, it began a long trek across the solar system. it left earth back injanuary 2006 to fly past the planets, including mars, jupiter, saturn. and then, in 2015, it made it all the way out to pluto, 3 billion miles away,

before racing on for another billion miles to ultima thule, reaching it on new year's day, skimming past, but still able to capture the images we're now starting to see. there's a lot that's surprising about this tiny world, made up of two pieces of rock joined together. so, this may be the first glimpse of how the planets were eventually built — one lump binding to another over millions of years. this shape informs our models of planetary formation. you can see that they're clearly two separate objects that have come together. so, it's pretty exciting to see that. when new horizons flew past pluto, it revealed a world more active than anyone expected. now, this latest encounter has produced something even more profound, a snapshot of what it took to make planets like our own. david shukman, bbc news. a dawn—to—dusk protest has begun

in the southern indian state of kerala in response to two women who entered a shrine to worship on tuesday. police helped the women enter the sa barimala temple in kerala, which is at the centre of a bitter dispute between conservatives and activists. a court ruling last year was supposed to end the temple‘s long—standing ban on all women of menstruating age. but for months, protesters have still been preventing women from going in. devina gupta reports. these women are moments away from breaking a centuries—old tradition at this hindu temple. in the cover of the dark, these two women in their 40s are seen going inside the sabarimala shrine in the south indian state of kerala — an act that has broken gender barriers. this temple is home to the hindu lord ayyapa, who is believed by devotees to be a celibate. so, women of menstruating ages,

defined as between 10 and 50 by the temple, were not allowed here. although india lifted the ban on women entering sabarimala temple last year, there were protests by conservative hindu groups preventing women of menstruating age from entering the shrine. activists bindu and kanaka durga have finally entered the temple, but they were escorted by two policemen. the issue has divided women across the country. just yesterday, thousands of women gathered to make a human chain to protest against conservative groups. today, they hailed this act as a symbolic victory. translation: the entry of women in sabarimala is a historic win for us. it's a victory of the movement for equality and it's a victory of women power. but another group of women have protested against what they call is desecration of their faith.

even the temple was shut down for a purification ritual and violent clashes were reported across the state — a sign that the fight for their right to pray is far from overfor women here. devina gupta, bbc news, delhi. smitha nair is a journalist for the independent indian news website scroll. in. thanks very much for your time. good to talk to you. what is really going on here? from outside of course it seems extraordinary this is raising such strong passions. right, we are of course just referring to one temple in the southern state of kerala. what we are seeing play out today is, in a sense, a reaction to what happened yesterday. despite the ruling support in 2015 which lifted what some traditionalists believe to

bea what some traditionalists believe to be a centuries old ban on the entry of women into the shrine, women were not allowed to enter the temple. we have seen protests happen intermittently over the last several weeks, but these two women, bindu and kanaka durga, managed to enter the temple before daybreak yesterday and that was subsequently confirmed by the state government. they did so under police protection and that appears to have sort of riled the traditionalists, mobilised particularly by the opposition party in the state of kerala, the ruling party at the centre, the bjp, so we have seen mobilisation and counter mobilisation of political parties on both sides of the divide. 0ne mobilisation of political parties on both sides of the divide. one of course led by the ruling communist party, the party that governs the state of keral, and the bjp, the hindu nationalist party, which rules the country at the centre and is in the country at the centre and is in the opposition in kerala. smitha, although these women had police

protection going on, they are at considerable personal risk, aren't they? it is a brave thing they are doing. well, that is debatable, of course. we have a protest and a mobilisation of protests on both sides of the political divide. the police have gone on record saying they had been provided their protection and their families had been provided protection. 0ne even said that her family left the state of kerala and is at an undisclosed location right now that they could -- eric location right now that they could —— eric wood in some manner be targeted by the traditionalists. and the protest as we witnessed today, they are not all peaceful. the state government has said all forms of protection will be at provided to all these women and their families until such time they think necessary. and, smitha, given the strength of feeling here, how do you see it playing out eventually? look, while it is true that those who are out on the streets, the protest we have seen in sabarimala since the supreme court have been in a sense

political mobilisation by the bjp, but there are several people including liberal members of parliament, from the congress party, who believe that perhaps the court should have interfered with what essentially is tradition. it was striking a balance between article 14, that striking a balance between article 1a, that deals with quality, and article 25, which deals with freedom of religion. so several so—called liberals on the other side of the political spectrum. what one expects to see in the days ahead is for this issue to perhaps become a political rallying point for the bjp notjust in the state of kerala, but going into the general collection in the month of april and may 2019. so i don't know whether it will have resonance in the rest of the country, but perhaps in the state of kerala, where the bjp has travelled to make political inroads, a electoral inroads, this is an issue they hope will become a rallying

point for the hindu community in a sense, and they are hoping perhaps that it will pay dividends in the election in 2019. smitha, it sounds like we might be talking to you again. thank you very much indeed. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: # barbie, you're beautiful. 60 years old, but forever young. is barbie still relevant as she enters her seventh decade? the most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has got underway with the introduction of the euro. tomorrow in holland, we're going to use money we picked up in belgium today, and then we'll be in france, and again, it'll be the same money. it's just got to be the way to go. george harrison, the former beatle, is recovering in hospital after being stabbed

at his 0xfordshire home. a 33—year—old man from liverpool is being interviewed by police on suspicion of attempted murder. i think it looks good. just good? no, fantastic. that's better. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: a meeting called by president trump to discuss the budget dispute that's led to a partial us government shutdown has broken up without agreement. the tech giant apple is warning that revenues have taken a big hit — largely because of disappointing sales in china. it's reported a second person has died from that crash

in massachusetts on new year's day, when a car ploughed into an apartment block. the building caught fire and has been burning ever since — officials say it will have to be pulled down. everyone inside the complex, somehow, escaped without injury. caroline rigby has the story. for two days now, firefighters have been tackling flames at this apartment block in fall river, massachusetts. now completely destroyed, all of its 80 residents have been left homeless. the fire began after a 2008 pontiac grand prix ploughed into the building's boiler room on new year's day, killing the car's 72—year—old driver. the district attorney's office says her 75—year—old female passenger has also since died. when the car went in, if it was five feet to the right, it was definitely going through one of our rooms. there was a fire, like, ten, five feet in front of our face. we just grabbed what we could and we ran out. all of the residents managed to escape unhurt, though several firefighters were taken to hospital for injuries they sustained battling the blaze.

it could have been a disaster. absolutely, because that fire was fed by the natural gas. the lines were ruptured. thanks to the work of 100 firefighters, the flames do now appear to be under control. but officials say the complex has been damaged beyond repair and is in the process of being demolished. caroline rigby, bbc news. a 10—year—old boy in south africa is causing a stir in the world of maths. sibahle zwane has an extraordinary ability to work out huge sums in his head. now his mental arithmetic is turning him into something of a social media sensation. pumza fihlani has been to meet him. 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 maths whiz, 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're 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, uh, 11? 2,750. 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, he — 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 your brain do that? after a professional assessment, he's 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 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, where 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. pumza fihlani, bbc news. great reaction shot.

for many — she is the toy every little girl wanted. for others — she is a symbol of sexism and crass commercialism. this year barbie turns sixty. it's estimated more than 55 million of the dolls are sold each year. so is she still relevant — as she enters her seventh decade? hidden away in a warehouse near los angeles international airport is the top—secret barbie design studio. it's here that a team of around 100 people help create the latest generation of plastic dolls. a hands—on approach, that can be more complicated than it looks. one thing, obviously, that we have to keep in mind with barbie is scale. so notjust — like in terms of size, for example, something like this, these sequins are tiny. so on a barbie doll, on a barbie body, it works and it looks appropriate and proportionate. # barbie, you're beautiful...

barbie first made her debut at a trade show in new york in 1959. her makers, mattel, said she was designed to teach girls they had choices, they could be anything. but critics insist she simply reinforced gender stereotypes and represented an almost impossible physical ideal. in recent years, there have been attempts to create dolls that are more ethnically diverse and have a more realistic body shape. it is a new kind of day, and certainly, as a doll that represents a female, it's really important to have a positive message, and to kind of talk to girls or to kids and talk about being able to do these different things. more than a billion barbies have been sold in the last six decades. despite the controversy, despite the criticism, she is an icon.

60 years old, but forever young. tim allman, bbc news. finally, some pictures that have to be seen to be believed — pope francis hasjuggled some of his more traditional commitments to allow time for an audience with the cuban circus. 20 performersjoined his weekly audience at the vatican — and the pontiff himself took part in the performance, putting his own spin on some of the circus skills — the hand of god, you could call it maybe. worth seeing again. much more on the website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @bbcmikeembley. thanks for watching. good morning.

well, we've certainly been chasing cloud amounts around the country at the moment, but my new year's resolution was to stay on the optimistic side with a glass half full. so, for the next few days, yes, it will stay chilly, but i'm optimistic that we'll see a little more in the way of sunshine coming through. but frost and freezing fog patches could be an issue first thing in the morning. now, the uk is sandwiched right in the middle, between this mild air sitting out in the atlantic and colder air across eastern europe at the moment. there is an area of high pressure across the uk and circulating around the high, the wind direction always driving in a little more cloud close to the coasts. so, just come further inland, that's where we'll see the clearest of the skies. that's where we're likely to be the best of the sunshine as well. if you're up and off early on this morning, it's going to be a chilly start, as you can see, right through the spine of the country really. the blue tones denoting those temperatures below freezing. well below freezing in some places.

it may be as low as —5 and —6 degrees in more rural spots. so, it's going to be a cold and a frosty start to thursday morning. that's where the best slice of the sunshine is likely to be, though. those east coasts, more cloud just driving in. and with a south—westerly flow out to the west as well, a little more cloud and a little more moisture, and there, we could see the problem with some fog forming a little later on. top temperatures, though, for thursday afternoon — 3 to 7 degrees the high. now, as we go into the evening hours, that's when we could potentially see some freezing fog forming. and if that happens, it may well be slow to clear away. but the real cold air and the stormy weather at the moment is across eastern europe. we've seen some heavy rain and even snow at lower levels across greece and turkey at the moment, and that bitterly cold air is sitting not only across the south—east mediterranean, but it's moving all the way up generally through eastern europe over the next few days.

the yellow tones — i'm not going to say mild, but something a little less cold across portugal, spain, france and the uk. if we get some freezing fog first thing on friday morning, it may be slow to clear away, and that could have quite an impact on the temperatures. again, there will be some sunshine around after a cold and frosty start on friday. if the freezing fog lingers, and favoured spots for that are going to be central and southern england, well, then, those temperatures only at around 3 or 4 degrees. a little milder the further west we go. this quiet theme of weather looks likely to continue into the weekend. 0n the whole, largely dry but, again, chasing cloud amounts around. take care. this is bbc news. the headlines: a meeting called by president trump to try to end the budget dispute that's partially shut down the us government has finished without agreement. mr trump wants five billion dollars from congress for a border wall with mexico. it's an election promise, although he insisted during the campaign that mexico would pay. apple has warned investors that its latest revenue figures will be sharply lower than previously expected.

the company said it hadn't foreseen the scale of the economic slowdown in some emerging markets, particularly china. consumers had also failed to upgrade to the latest versions of iphones as expected. nasa's revealed the first clear images of ultima thule, the most distant object yet visited by a spacecraft. they show an icy object which looks a bit like a snowman. it's about 33 kilometres long and it is floating more than six billion kilometres from earth. now it's time for one of hardtalk‘s highlights of 2018. in july, stephen sackur spoke to the acclaimed australian author